German luxury automaker BMW, which is struggling in its key North American market, said Friday its 2008 vehicle sales fell five percent from the year-earlier record to 53 billion euros (71.6 billion dollars).
It said demand tumbled in the fourth quarter, in common with the industry as a whole as the global financial crisis pushed key markets into recession.
Sales of BMW's three auto brands, which include Mini and Rolls-Royce, fell 9.4 percent to 48.8 billion euros while motorcycles edged up 0.2 percent to 1.2 billion euros.
Financial services, which have been a source of worry for the group, posted a strong increase of 12.8 percent to 15.7 billion euros however.
BMW said “business conditions for the automobile sector deteriorated sharply again in the fourth quarter of 2008.”
Later Friday, sales data for January confirmed that the slump did not end last year, with vehicle sales down 24 percent to 70,405 vehicles last month.
Mini sales fell 35 percent in January after the company halted production of its popular convertible model pending the launch of a new version on March 28.
German rival Audi meanwhile said its sales slumped 29 percent in January to around 56,200 vehicles, with the downturn looking worse in part because the figure for January 2008 was boosted by the launch of a new version of its A4 model.
The other high-end German automaker, Daimler, said it had sold 62,200 Mercedes-Benz, AMG, Smart and Maybach cars in January, a drop of 31.2 percent.
“This year won't be easy for anyone,” Audi executive board member Peter Schwarzenbauer said in a statement.
“Current market conditions remain extremely challenging,” BMW executive board member Ian Robertson concurred in a separate statement.
Robertson nonetheless expected BMW to profit from a broad-based plan to improve the fuel-efficiency of its cars as more European countries adopted measures aimed at fighting greenhouse emissions.
In late Frankfurt trading, BMW shares shot up 9.65 percent to 21.48 euros, while Daimler showed a gain of 8.77 percent to 24.68 euros.
The wider market was up 2.14 percent overall.
BMW confirmed that 2008 full-year earnings would be solidly in the black when it releases detailed figures on March 18.
