FRANKFURT: Passenger car sales for the core BMW brand in China fell 5.5 percent in May, their first decline in over a decade in the world’s biggest car market.

Combined with sales of the Mini brand, which rose 17.8 percent, BMW’s China sales fell 4.2 percent, compared with a 0.6 percent increase in April.

The last time the company had a decline in its BMW brand and combined BMW and Mini sales in China was in January 2005, a spokeswoman said.

She added that May this year had two fewer selling days in China than May 2014. Worldwide, BMW’s core brand sales rose 4 percent in May to 159,129 vehicles.