Volkswagen will sell its operations in China's Xinjiang, it said on Wednesday, after years of mounting pressure to abandon its presence in a region where rights groups have documented abuses against the Uyghur population.

The carmaker's joint-venture assembly plant in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, designed to build gasoline-powered cars, was also losing money.

German car giant Volkswagen said Wednesday it would sell its operations in China's Xinjiang region, where Beijing has been accused of widespread human rights abuses including forced labour.