BMW September Sales Fall Nearly 15 Percent

[M.D. Holloway]

BMW September Sales Fall Nearly 15 Percent
By George Frey, AP Business Writer
Manufacturing.Net - October 08, 2008


FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- German carmaker BMW AG said Wednesday worldwide sales fell nearly 15 percent in September as the global economic crisis pushed North America and western Europe to curb spending.

The company said it sold 121,621 units in September, down from 142,357 in the same period a year ago.

"The situation remains challenging," said BMW sales and marketing board member Ian Robertson in a statement.

"The recent escalation in the financial crisis is also affecting consumer confidence in the premium segment. However, we do expect the current weakness in demand to pass over time. With many new highly efficient models being launched in the next months, we are well equipped for the future," Robertson said.

Munich-based BMW said the BMW brand saw sales fell more than 16 percent for the month to 98,874 vehicles sold. Sales in North America fell 26 percent to 18,506 automobiles.

"The crisis in the financial markets is currently making consumers highly reluctant to purchase, especially in the U.S., albeit another factor has been the planned reallocation of vehicles originally intended for the USA to markets with higher profit margins," the company said in its statement.

On Tuesday, BMW said it was rerouting 20,000 cars to either China or Russia, and that it wanted to base future production more on demand.

BMW said from January through September however, the company was able to increase its sales volume by 1.7 percent. Global deliveries reached 1.11 million, compared with 1.10 million in the first 9 months of 2007.

In the first 9 months, the BMW brand accounted for 928,230 vehicles, a decline of 0.1 percent while the Mini brand accounted for 184,915 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, an increase of more than 12 percent.

The Rolls Royce brand delivered 827 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, a 43 percent increase on the year ago period.

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