BERLIN, April 11 (Xinhua) -- BMW recorded the best single sales month in its history with a total of 263,319 cars sold in March 2019, marking an increase of 2.8 percent compared to the same month last year, the German car manufacturer announced on Thursday.

"The year is progressing as we expected, given the ongoing model changeover of the BMW 3 Series sedan and headwinds in markets worldwide," said Pieter Nota, member of BMW's management board.

Business for BMW went particularly well in China, where the German car manufacturer recorded the strongest growth in car sales among all of its markets. In its largest single market, BMW's car sales increased by 12.5 percent to a total of 60,717 cars in March.

While car sales in BMW's largest market Europe rose by 3.1 percent to a total of 131,657 vehicles in March, they fell particularly sharply by 4.4 percent to 30,135 cars in the car maker's home market Germany.

According to BMW, the company's electrified models, such as plug-in hybrid cars or electrically powered vehicles, were "extremely popular". Sales of BMW's i3 increased by 16.2 percent to 9,227 cars sold in the first quarter of 2019, marking the most successful first quarter "by far" for the electric car, the German car maker announced.

BMW is planning to introduce 10 new or updated electrified models by the end of the current year. By 2025, the German car manufacturer is planning to have at least 25 electrified models on the market of which 12 are set to be fully electrically powered.

During the first quarter of 2019 BMW has sold a total of 605,333 cars, marking a slight increase of 0.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

"Despite the ongoing competitive global market environment and some other headwinds" BMW is expecting an "increasing momentum in terms of volume and mix as the year progresses". The German car maker would also be seeking to continue "its strategy of prioritizing profitability before volume", BMW announced.