China boom urges BMW to uplift 2010 sales outlook

Shanghai, June 24 (Gasgoo.com) German luxury car maker BMW AG expects vehicle sales to rise by a "strong single-digit" percentage this year to more than 1 million units, as demand booms in China and the U.S. recovers quickly, Dow Jones reported yesterday, citing BMW's sales chief Ian Robertson.

Robertson reiterated that China is expected to overtake the U.K. as the firm's third-largest market behind Germany and the United States in 2010, and this is poised to bolster profit margins as China is a key market for the lucrative BMW 7-series flagship sedan.

"The U.S. is coming back more strongly than expected," Robertson said on the sidelines of the Automotive News Europe conference being held in the Basque city of Bilbao in northern Spain, adding BMW's global sales momentum of recent months continued in June.

BMW still expects to remain the world's best-selling luxury car maker by sales this year ahead of its major rivals Audi AG and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz. In the first five months, sales rose 13% to 552,864 vehicles from 487,914 of a year earlier.

In the first five months of the year, BMW's China sales came to a total of 60,617 cars, up from 29,121 sold in the same period of last year. Sales in May more than doubled from a year earlier to nearly 14,000 units.

BMW's Chinese venture, BMW Brilliance, is building a second plant and will more than double its annual production to 300,000 vehicles in 2012. Reportedly, BMW will open a Mini factory in China.