China leads way as BMW enjoys surging sales

car maker BMW is likely to have sold more vehicles in January compared to the same month last year thanks to rising demand in China, where group deliveries surged more than 20 per cent.

A new 4-Series cabriolet was rolled out at Novembers Tokyo Motor Show. Picture: Getty

Overall deliveries, including the British Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, increased in single-digit terms in the United States and were also up in core European markets, according to the German group’s finance chief Friedrich Eichiner.

BMW, the world’s largest luxury car maker, is expected to publish official group sales data for January some time this week.
German rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz posted double-digit gains in January deliveries, with Chinese sales up 18 per cent and 45 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, Eichiner said yesterday that BMW expects no major burden on results this year from the strong euro, thanks to currency hedging policies.

Bumper sales of British-built Minis and Rolls-Royces helped the group race to a record annual result in 2013.

Globally, a total of 305,030 Minis were delivered last year – up 1.2 per cent on the 2012 figure which had also been a record.