BMW sales rise 7.5 percent in January on demand in Europe, China

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - BMW reported a 7.5 percent rise in monthly car sales to 152,879 vehicles in January, as growth in Europe and China more than offset a slide in the United States, where winter storms deterred car buyers. "Despite many markets showing continuing volatility, we remain optimistic that this positive trend will continue through 2016," sales chief Ian Robertson said in a statement on Tuesday. Deliveries of BMW and MINI model cars in China were up 8.4 percent at 43,441 vehicles in January, while deliveries in the United States slipped 4 percent to 26,667 cars to due to storms that disrupted large parts of the country, BMW said. Sales in Europe were up rose 10.9 percent, helped by double-digit growth in Italy, France and Spain. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Arno Schuetze)