BMW Car Sales Rise 17% In January

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--German luxury car maker BMW AG (BMW.XE) said Tuesday that car sales in January rose 17% year-on-year to 82,120 vehicles and it targets full-year sales of more than 1.3 million, the latest sign the market recovery in the premium segment is moving up a gear.

"Thanks to the large number of new ... models, such as the new BMW 5-Series and the Mini Countryman, we are aiming for growth in the single-digit percentage range for 2010," BMW's sales chief Ian Robertson said in a statement.

"We have already sold virtually all of the current BMW 5 Series sedans, so there will be a relatively small volume of final deliveries of this model over the next two months," Robertson added. He said the response to the new-generation 5-series ahead of its launch in the second quarter is enthusiastic. "From the second quarter on, the new model--together with the new, recently launched BMW X1 and BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo models--will give sales a further boost," he said.

The company's core BMW brand posted a 16% sales rise to 69,852 in January. Demand for luxury cars collapsed toward the end of 2008 in many major markets amid the economic downturn and the market woes spilled over into 2009, causing relatively low comparative figures for last year.

Sales at the BMW brand contracted by 11.1% to 1.07 million last year as demand waned. But the Munich-based company remained the best-selling premium auto maker ahead of Daimler AG's (DAI) Mercedes-Benz marque and Volkswagen AG's (VOW.XE) Audi brand with 1.01 million and 949,700 car sales, respectively.

Audi's strong presence in the dynamic Chinese market and a smaller exposure to the troubled U.S. market than its rivals helped Volkswagen's key earnings contributor to narrow the gap to its larger peers amid the industry gloom last year.

Fueled by booming demand in China and strong sales of the Q5 sports-utility vehicle, Audi Monday reported a sales rise in January of 39% year-on-year to 77,800 cars, outpacing both the BMW brand and Mercedes-Benz. On Friday, Mercedes-Benz posted a 24% sales rise to 67,000 cars in January and predicted "significant growth" for the first quarter. Audi's sales in 2010 are expected to be fueled by the launch of its small A1 model, a compact car below the A3 hatchback and a direct rival to BMW's Mini vehicles.