BMW Links June Sales Slump To American Economic Woes

New York, NY (AHN) -- German automaker BMW said its worldwide sales fell 2.8 percent in June, in part because of slumping sales in the U.S., but that it had record sales during the first half of the year.

The Munich-based car maker said in a statement sales of its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands climbed by 4.7 percent in the first six months of the year to 764,874 vehicles. That's compared to 730,285 cars sold in the first six months of 2007.

Mini brand sales continued a strong upward trend, up nearly 18 percent in the first half of the year to 126,810 cars. In June, monthly Mini sales were up 8 percent. The Rolls-Royce brand sold 495 cars in the first six months of the year compared with 294 for the same period last year, a whopping 68 percent jump. June sales were up 56 percent.

Sales overall were hurt by slumping economies in the U.S. and Japan, which BMW classified as "difficult economic trends" in a company statement. BMW Group unit sales in January to June in the U.S. dropped 4 percent in the first six months of this year, from 164,441 to 157,913. BMW pointed out that its sales were still far better than the overall U.S. car market, which dropped by 10 percent during the same time period.