BMW third quarter sales increased 16%, higher than expected

BMW beat their own sales expectations for the third quarter of 2010. “August turned out to be stronger than we had anticipated and it looks as if that trend continued in September. If you just look at volumes, the third quarter was very good and above our expectations,” CEO Norbert Reithofer said last Friday at the Paris Motor Show.

Since January 2010, BMW has been gaining double-digit percentage unit sales growth. For September, the overall sales of BMW Group is reported to be 16%.

Reithofer also said that with the upcoming front-wheel drive architecture with significant economies of scale, they are expecting to produce around 700,000 to 1 million units annually. A front-wheel drive BMW model will also use this architecture, but it is not yet on their current product range.

Reithofer denied the reports that he is planning to equip the BMW 7 Series model with a four-cylinder engine, just like what Mercedes did. BMW 7 Series cars will still be using the same six-cylinder engine.

Source: Autonews