Skoda Auto, a Czech unit of the German giant Volkswagen, said Thursday that it sold a record 493,000 cars in the first half of 2012, with a surge in China accounting for almost a quarter of the total.

Sales were up by 8.4 percent compared with the same period last year, and deliveries in China rose by 7.6 percent to more than 120,700 units, a Skoda statement said.

"Skoda continued its growth trend in the first half of 2012" despite an increasingly difficult situation on the market, chief executive Winfried Vahland noted in a statement.

"We beat the market in almost all sales regions and kept improving our good position," he added.

But Vahland acknowledged that the second half of the year would bring "a remarkably stiffer head wind."

"The new Skoda Rapid, a compact limousine which will hit the market in autumn, plays an important role in our further growth," he added.

Skoda sales in India grew by 40 percent to 20,500 units, and were 31.1 percent higher in Russia at more than 65,200 vehicles.

Skoda sold a record 879,200 cars in 2011 and is aiming for 1.5 million units by 2018.

Along with South Korea's Hyundai and TPCA, a joint venture between France's PSA Peugeot Citroen and Japan's Toyota, Skoda Auto accounted for 22 percent of total Czech industrial output last year.