BMW 2-month sales rise 18-percent on BMW, Mini, demand in Germany

March 8, 2002 BOOMBERG NEWS reports that Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's worldwide two-month vehicle sales rose 18 percent, on higher demand for BMW-brand and Mini cars, the company said.

Two-month sales rose to 152,228 cars and trucks, the company said in a faxed press release. February sales rose 17 percent to 74,422 cars.

BMW has said it may sell 1 million units for the first time this year, helped by the introduction of the Mini small car in 2001 and higher demand for the X5 sport-utility vehicle and luxury cars.

In the first two months, BMW-brand sales rose 6.7 percent to 138,042 vehicles, while 14,186 Mini cars were sold, the company said in a faxed statement. The Mini wasn't on sale a year ago.

The automaker's sales in the first two months in Germany rose 9.9 percent from a year ago to 39,681 cars, the company said.