MUNICH, July 23 (Reuters) - Germany's BMW will build 16,000 of its new 5-series saloons in July and will be churning them out at full capacity by September, keeping it on track for record group sales this year, a senior executive said.
"We're very satisfied with the ramp-up. In July we'll build 16,000 and we'll have no problem filling the orders for them," BMW board member responsible for sales and marketing, Michael Ganal, told reporters late on Tuesday in comments embargoed for publication until Wednesday.
The Munich-based group is banking on the new model, which was launched in Europe earlier this month and boasts jet-fighter style displays projected in the driver's line of vision and headlights that look round corners, to reverse months of falling sales of its core luxury brand.
"We stand by what we have said before -- we expect to achieve new sales records for all the BMW Group's brands this year," said Chief Executive Helmut Panke, flanked by previous generations of the 5-series.
The BMW Group, which also includes the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, sold 1.057 million cars in 2002 and made 3.3 billion euros profit before tax, but its traditionally roaring profits slid by close to a fifth in the first quarter due to the cost of the biggest new product programme in its history.
It has said it expects second-quarter profits to fall by a similar amount as development costs continue to weigh, but is striving to match last year's earnings over the year as a whole.
BMW will be unveiling a 6-series coupe and X3 sports utility vehicle this year and a smaller 1-series car in 2004, a model which some analysts worry will squeeze its profit margins and dilute the brand, a charge which management keenly rebuts.
"Why is the relative profit margin different for small cars than for big cars?" finance chief Stefan Krause asked, adding that the 1-series would be pitched squarely at the luxury end of its segment.
"Our theory is that a nine percent profit margin probably can't be earned in the mass-market segment. That's why we have a premium strategy," he said, but declined to specify what BMW's profit-margin targets were for the coming years.
Board member responsible for production, Norbert Reithofer, said the 1-series would become one of BMW's volume models, noting that the 3-series was first produced in just one variant but expanded to six, and was now the company's best-seller.
Reithofer said BMW currently produced 700 5-series cars per day. He declined to say what full capacity would be.