BMW Wants To Be Top-Selling Luxury Car Maker

BMW AG (BMW.XE) is poised to retain the crown as the world's best-selling luxury car maker in 2009 after it reported an 11% rise in sales at its core brand in November, the latest sign that the market recovery in the premium segment is firming up.

Sales for the BMW brand were 90,383 cars last month, with the revamped Z4 roadster and the flagship 7-series sedan achieving the highest growth rates year-on-year.

Sales of the Z4 soared to 1,760 cars from 706 in November, 2008. The 7-series sedan posted a 57% sales rise to 5,025 cars.

BMW 3-series and 5-series sales were up 3.4% and 3.7% in November at 32,230 and 14,164 vehicles, respectively.

Sales for BMW's compact 1-series models were 16,614 vehicles in November, up 11.7% on the year.

In the January-to-November period, sales for the BMW brand were down 12.8% compared with last year at 963,712 vehicles, reflecting the market woes in the first half of 2009.

Demand for luxury cars contracted sharply towards the end of 2008, causing relatively low comparative figures for last year.

State-backed scrapping incentives, which were introduced in many markets in 2009 to lure customers back into showrooms, revived demand mainly for small and compact cars rather than for big luxury vehicles.
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