UPDATE 1-BMW speeds past Audi, Mercedes in August
(Wraps in Audi, Mercedes sales, adds details)
By Christian Hetzner
FRANKFURT, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Powered by a rejuvenated model line including the X5 offroader and Mini, BMW (BMWG.DE) easily outsold rival Audi and outgrew Mercedes in August, reinforcing its position as the world's largest premium carmaker.
Deliveries of BMW brand vehicles rose 11.1 percent last month to 85,003 units, further widening the distance between it and Volkswagen's (VOWG.DE) premium marque Audi, which mustered growth of 4.2 percent to 66,400 vehicles during the same period.
DaimlerChrysler (DAIGn.DE) later reported Mercedes-Benz sales of 89,100 units in August thanks to a resurgent C-Class saloon, representing an increase of 9.1 percent. Moreover thanks to a 24 percent surge in demand for its Mini brand last month, BMW reported overall group vehicle sales of 99,755 units -- a gain of 12.9 percent and still outselling Mercedes Car Group sales of 96,200 vehicles including Daimler's Smart brand.
Shares in BMW eased 0.4 percent by 0912 GMT, while both Daimler and VW fell 0.5 percent, broadly in line with a weaker German blue-chip index .GDAXI.
"We have undertaken to achieve sales growth in 2007 in the upper single-digit percentage range. We are well on the way to meeting this objective," Michael Ganal, BMW's head of sales and marketing, said in a statement.
Even the company's super-luxury nameplate Rolls-Royce, after reporting stagnant sales over the past years, managed dramatically to lift its monthly sales 15 percent, bringing the brand's total to 459 units sold in January to August.
Cumulative BMW group sales increased 7.1 percent to 952,929 units in the eight months through August.
Investors have begun largely to ignore BMW's undoubted success at selling cars, however, due to the company's failure to maintain once-lofty pretax profit margins.
The Munich-based company's Bavarian rival Audi managed to boost its deliveries by 4.2 percent as growth in key export markets overcompensated for sagging demand in Germany.
Not only did Audi boost August unit sales by 24 percent in China, nearly 18 percent in Britain and 7.1 percent in the United States, but it also saw remarkable growth in new markets such as Russia and Africa/Middle East.
The company attributed the 7.7 percent drop in sales in Germany to effects of model life-cycles stemming from its mid-size A4.
"The scheduled end of production is having an impact on this high-selling model," said Joerg Felske, Head of Sales Germany at Audi.
Audi's sales boss, Ralph Weyler, reaffirmed he expected record unit sales in 2007 and was optimistic for the coming year due to the revamp of the A4.
"The (next generation) A4 saloon will be introduced to market at the end of November. I expect it to provide a substantial boost to sales next year -- and not just in Germany," he said.
In the eight months through August, sales of Audi brand vehicles increased by 9.2 percent to around 656,600 units, the Ingolstadt-based carmaker said in a statement on Friday.
((Editing by Quentin Bryar; E-mail: christiaan.hetzner@reuters.com; +49 69 7565 1249))
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