German carmaker BMW has agreed to offer 5.1 billion yuan (686 million euros, $818 million) in subsidies to its Chinese dealers to help make up for losses from slowing sales, Bloomberg news agency reported Monday.

Quoting a top official from the China Automobile Dealers Association, Bloomberg reported that the subsidies would be paid to dealers in February and was the highest ever paid by a carmaker in China.

Contacted by AFP, BMW confirmed that it had held an "open and constructive discussion" with its dealer partners.

Both sides had "reached consensus on the structure of optimised business measures and financial allocation for the dealers, so as to jointly overcome the short-term challenges, moving forward to a successful future of long-term and win-win partnership," it said in an emailed response.

But BMW insisted it had agreed not to divulge the exact sums involved.

"BMW and its dealer partners are fully aware that the overall automotive market in China is normalising with the growth speed from super high rate to the lower but stable pace," it said.

This year the German carmaker planned to introduce "more than 10 new premium products to China, such as the premium compact car in this fast-growing segment, high-end luxurious sedans models and innovative New Energy Vehicles (hybrids)," it said.

China is one of BMW's biggest markets. In the period from January to November 2014, sales of its BMW and Mini brands there rose by 17.2 percent to 415,000 cars.

BMW shares were showing a loss of 1.70 percent at 86.51 euros in a slightly softer market.

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