BMW sees growth slowing after 22% rise in Feb sales

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BMW AG said growth in Asia, Europe and the U.S. boosted February sales of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles by 21.7 percent but warned growth would slow toward year-end.

"We expect this dynamic growth to continue throughout the first half of 2011, and then slow down somewhat in the second half of the year, due to base-line effects," Ian Robertson, a member of BMW's management board, said in a statement today.

BMW said retail volumes rose on all continents in virtually all markets. Sales in Asia rose 49 percent, with European sales up 17 percent and sales in the Americas up 15 percent.

On a global scale, BMW brand sales gained 22 percent to 95,423 vehicles, with sales of Mini branded products up 19.3 percent and Rolls-Royce deliveries at 252 vehicles. BMW said sales of the new 5 series, and X-series SUVs helped drive sales, with the launch of the new 6 series set to further boost sales.

Record sales

In January this year, Robertson said that BMW wants 2011 to be a record sales year for the group and all its brands.

"This year we plan to sell well over 1.5 million units, achieving all-time sales highs for all three brands – BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce," he said at the Detroit auto show.

In 2010 the BMW Group increased sales 13.6 percent to 1.46 million units, the company's second-best year. The record stands at 1,500,678 vehicles sold in 2007.

Mini set a new sales record in 2010 with a volume of 234,115 units, up 8.2 percent on the year before.

Rolls-Royce also achieved an all-time high in 2010 due to a 176 percent year-on-year sales surge to 2,711 units.

The BMW brand's 2010 sales rose 14.6 percent to 1,224,280 units, but that was not enough to beat its record high of 1,276,793 cars and SUVs set in 2007.

Reuters contributed to this report