Hyundai China Sept sales up 15 pct amid anti-Japan protests

SEOUL Oct 5 (Reuters) - South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor said on Friday its China sales climbed 15 percent to 84,188 vehicles in September from a year earlier, as anti-Japan protests in the world's top market hit sales of Japanese rivals.

Hyundai's September sales mark a rise of 12 percent from August sales of 75,158, according to an emailed response to a Reuters query. Hyundai did not give a reason for the sales rise.

Hyundai's new factory in China, which makes its popular Elantra compact car and started production in June, has allowed it to increase supply at a time when some Japanese competitors are struggling in the wake of a territorial row, analysts said.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Richard Pullin)