BMW July Global Car Sales Up 21% To 91,800 Cars

MUNICH -Dow Jones reported that Bayerische Motoren Werke AG Friday said its global car sales reached 91,800 units in July, up 21% from the 75,800 cars the German luxury-carmaker sold in the same month last year.

For the first seven months of 2002, BMW said its global car sales rose 4.4% year-on-year to 559,100 units. During that period, BMW delivered 635,600 cars to customers, up 19% from the same period a year ago.

BMW's global car sales were released a day after U.S.-German carmaker DaimlerChrysler AG said its luxury brand Mercedes-Benz globally sold roughly the same number of cars in July and the first seven months of 2002 as in the comparative period a year earlier.

BMW said that because of the continuing high demand for BMW cars, work will continue throughout the summer in all plants worldwide. BMW said there would be 22 additional Saturday shifts in 2002 at the Munich and Regensburg plants.

BMW said more than 100,000 of its Mini brand cars have been sold worldwide since the brand was introduced in the U.K. in July 2001. Some 76,500 Mini cars were sold in the first seven months of 2002, BMW said.

In the U.S., where Minis went on sale in March 2002, some 9,600 cars of the brand have been sold so far.

BMW said sales of the new 7 Series continue to develop above expected levels. BMW said 4,600 7 Series were delivered to customers in July, with seven-month deliveries of 30,400.

"This is all the more satisfactory given the fact that only two eight-cylinder petrol engine variants are available at the moment," BMW said. It said it expects sales of the new 7 Series to be boosted further when a diesel version becomes available later in 2002.

BMW said it performed better than most of its peers overall and in almost all key car markets in July.

It said sales in the month rose 71% to 7,800 cars in the U.K., while sales in Italy rose 46% on the year to 6,100 cars. In Germany, sales rose 11% to 23,900 cars, despite a continuing difficult market environment.

In the U.S., BMW's car sales rose 15% to 22,000 BMW and Mini-brand cars.

Sales in Japan rose 60% to almost 4,000 units in July, while sales in China grew by 25% to 1,300 cars.