"This result is considerably above the same period in 2008 and about on par with the result achieved in the first two quarters of 2007."
The BMW Group maintained its position as the leading automaker in the global luxury car market with the announcement this morning that 380,412 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles were sold during the second quarter of 2010.
This is a 12.5 % more compared with the same period last year.
The total number of vehicles sold in the six-month period rose by 13.1 % to 696,026 units.
“Sharp sales volume growth in major markets and a high-value model mix are the main reasons for the strong second-quarter performance,” Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said.
Net profit in the quarter ending 30 June leaped to €831 million from €119 million in the same period a year ago, while earnings before interest and tax, (EBIT), jumped to €1.72 billion from €169 million.
Reithofer said that BMW now expects its vehicle sales to rise by about 10% in 2010 to more than 1.4 million vehicles, an increase from a previous forecast of 1.3 million.
Reithofer provided a global overview of the auto business. The car market in China, which had grown by almost 50% during 2009, grew again by an additional 25% during the first six months of 2010. China continues to be the largest car market worldwide.
The U.S. market, which slumped last year to its lowest point since 1982, grew by 17% during the first half of 2010, but is still well short of the levels seen in recent years as an economic slump and high unemployment continues.
European markets were inconsistent. As a result of the expiration of a “cash for clunkers” credit, the German market was down about 33% from the record level registered during the first half of 2009.
In other countries, some government assisted scrappage programs continued into the first half of 2010, helping to stabilize those markets. Sales volumes in Italy and France for the six-month period were at the previous year’s level. The UK car market also benefited during the first six months of 2010 from an ongoing scrappage program with sales up by approximately 16 % when compared with the same year earlier period.
The recovery in Spain was particularly pronounced: after contracting by approximately one half over the course of the financial crisis, the market grew by 38 % during the first half of 2010. The European market as a whole was one percent down on the previous year.
“We expect smaller increases in sales world-wide in the third quarter,” Chief Financial Officer Friedrich Eichiner told journalists.