Tuesday, March 8, 2005

BMW continues to pull ahead of Mercedes with 7% sales rise in February

Reuters

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FRANKFURT - German premium carmaker BMW said on Tuesday global sales of its core BMW brand vehicles rose 7.3 percent in February, ahead of overall group deliveries of 7 percent including its Mini brand.

Deliveries of BMW brand cars and SUVs rose to 69,632 units, while sales of its Mini compact brand advanced 5.5 percent to 13,556 vehicles. It delivered 40 super-luxury Rolls-Royce Phantoms in the month.

BMW had said during the Geneva car show last week that group vehicle sales rose a preliminary 6 percent last month to some 78,200 units.

Group car sales in the first two months of the year rose a cumulative 8.5 percent.

BMW continues to enjoy the fruits of the largest product offensive in the group's history, as new models such as the X3 compact offroader and revamped ones like its best-selling 3-Series mid-size car combine to lift sales.

The new 3-Series model hit dealer showrooms last weekend.

It said sales of its new BMW 1-Series compact reached 10,267 units last month, bringing sales to nearly 59,000 since the model was launched in September.

The company overtook arch-rival Mercedes Car Group, the luxury arm of DaimlerChrysler, last year, delivering a total of 1.209 million cars to customers versus 1.201 million retail sales for Mercedes.

Stuttgart-based Mercedes has published February car sales data that showed an 11.6 percent decline in sales last month, burdened by a 16.2 percent drop in deliveries of Mercedes-Benz brand cars.