BMW, the German luxury carmaker, is considering expanding its capacity in China as its joint venture plant there reaches its production limit.

BMW can expand capacity from the current 30,000 cars to 40,000, executives said , but more will be needed in the future. The German group sold 42,000 cars in China last year, up 30 per cent, and its sales figures for the first two months of 2007 show a rise of a further third.