Thanks to growing revenues and sales in Asia and especially China, and to a lesser extent, North America, the BMW Group was able to offset a stagnant European market in the third quarter of the year.
Revenues for the German group that includes the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands during the three-month period from July to September, rose by 13.7% to €18,817 million (2011: €16,547 million), while profit before tax improved by 17.6% to € 1,987 million (2011: € 1,689 million).
The total number of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles sold to customers during the third quarter of 2012 increased by 9.0% to 434,963 units (2011: 399,218 units).
“We have had a good third quarter, setting new sales volume, revenues and earnings records in the face of a challenging market environment,” stated the company’s CEO Norbert Reithofer.
“We expect further sales volume growth for the fourth quarter, even though it is clear that we – and indeed the sector as a whole – are likely to be confronted with adverse business conditions”, he added.
In the first nine months of the year, the BMW Group has sold 1,335,502 units of all three brands, which represents an increase of 8.3 per cent over the same period last year (2011: 1,232,584 units).
While European sales edged up only by 0.8% to 640,207 units from January to September, in North America, the German carmaker’s sales rose by 7.4% to 264,207 units, including 235,487 units (+7.1%) in the USA.
The BMW Group did even better in Asia where it delivered 359,103 units (+27.1%) during the period from January to September, including 237,650 units (+33.3%) in China and 42,038 cars (+21.5%) in Japan.
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