PARIS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Luxury German carmaker BMW said on Thursday it expected its unit sales for the first nine months of the year to rise to 800,000 vehicles and the company had raised its target for Mini sales this year.
BMW chief executive Helmut Panke told Reuters in an interview the carmaker would post a five percent rise in BMW brand sales for the first nine months of the year against the backdrop of depressed global car markets.
Total unit sales would rise 19 percent, although this figure includes the Mini which was only launched late last year.
He also said the company had again raised its estimate of Mini unit sales for 2002 and they would be "about 10 percent" above a previous target of 120,000 vehicles.
But Panke acknowledged that the Mini's profit margins would be lower than that of other BMW cars in its first life cycle. BMW model life cycles are generally seven years.
"We will not hit our usual profitability targets in the Mini's first life cycle," said Panke. "But we won't lose any money either."