Magna's production sales rose 9 percent to $4.41 billion in North America in the first quarter ended March 31, while European production sales rose 8 percent to $2.63 billion.

Magna, which has 315 plants in 29 countries, has been turning around its operations in Europe to improve efficiency amid a slow recovery in the region.

The company said it expected most of the work to be done this year, with some spillover into 2015.

Production sales in Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, India and Thailand, rose 25 percent to $381 million.

In the rest of the world, made up primarily of the South American market, production sales fell by more than a quarter to $157 million.

Magna has struggled in South America to pass on to customers the rise in costs due to inflation. The company said on Thursday that it was still trying to address commercial challenges and cut costs.

Magna, which also manufactures complete vehicles on a contract basis, raised its North American production sales forecast range by about $500 million to $17.1 billion-$17.7 billion.

The Aurora, Ontario-based company raised its European production sales forecast range by about $300 million to $9.8 billion-$10.2 billion.

Net income attributable to Magna climbed to $393 million, or $1.76 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $369 million, or $1.57 per share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 7 percent to $8.96 billion.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore and Solarina Ho in Toronto; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Kirti Pandey)