The worst of the car sales downturn is over, BMW Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said in a newspaper interview, forecasting sales of premium cars would accelerate in 2011 after an uptick next year. "We are working ourselves higher month by month. In August sales declined by just a single-digit (rate) for the first time (this year). September looks even better," he was quoted as saying by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
"The last few weeks have put us in an optimistic mood." Unit sales at BMW, the world's biggest maker of premium cars, shrank 9.7 percent in August, bringing the drop in the first eight months to 17.7 percent. Its sales chief said on September 8 that BMW was "cautiously optimistic" about returning to growth in the months ahead even though it would sell fewer cars this year than in 2008.
Reithofer said in the interview he was certain that sales in the premium car segment would eventually return to levels seen before the financial crisis hit. Next year should see a gradual recovery. "A stronger rise should come in 2011," he added. BMW, made famous by its high-powered and sporty vehicles, is working on an electric car but Reithofer sought to play down expectations for the new segment.
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