BMW car sales decline 24 per cent in February

German automaker BMW AG said on Monday its worldwide car sales fell 24 per cent in February as the economic crisis pinched demand.

The Munich-based company said it sold a total of 80,453 cars for the month compared with 106,368 cars in February 2008. BMW's brands include Mini, Rolls Royce and BMW sports and luxury cars.

The company said the BMW brand sold 68,803 cars in February, compared with 90,449 in the same month in 2008, a 24 per cent decline.

The compact Mini brand saw sales fall 27 per cent to 11,583 cars compared with 15,919 sold in February 2008. The company said it is reintroducing a Mini convertible model, starting in late March, which it said should improve Mini's sales significantly. The Rolls Royce brand increased sales 18 per cent, up to 67 cars for the month, compared with 57 a year ago.

'Despite the difficult conditions, the BMW group aims to remain the world's leading supplier of automobiles in 2009,' Ian Robertson, BMW's management board director of sales and marketing said.

BMW said the company's sales for the month had been better than the auto industry as a whole, which saw an overall decline in sales of 27 per cent.

Shares of BMW were trading up 1.8 per cent at euro20.20 ($25.45) in Frankfurt morning trading.