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FRANKFURT, March 30 (Reuters) - German luxury carmaker BMW AG proposed former Chief Executive Joachim Milberg as new supervisory board chairman on Tuesday and repeated forecasts for higher vehicle sales this year after a record March.
Reuters reported on Monday that supervisory board chairman Volker Doppelfeld, 68, would stand down after the group's annual general meeting on May 13 on grounds of age and that Milberg, CEO until the end of 2001, was in the running to succeed him.
BMW has an age limit of 70 for supervisory board members.
The group said in a statement that car sales totalled 113,000 in March, up 5.6 percent year-on-year and making it the best month in the group's history.
"Against this background, the group remains confident about the development of business over the remainder of the year," it said in a statement.
"The BMW Group confirms its forecast that it will again achieve sales volume growth in 2004; new record levels are expected for all brands."
BMW shares were trading flat at 33.38 euros by 0716 GMT, in line with the Dow Jones Stoxx European autos index .
If Milberg is approved as chairman, the supervisory board -- a non-executive board made up of shareholder and employee representatives -- will be in experienced hands.
Milberg steered BMW out of the crisis sparked by its engagement with British carmaker Rover and refocused the group on its premium brands. He stepped down as CEO due to ill health.
The Munich-based company reported 2003 pre-tax profits of 3.2 billion euros ($3.9 billion) earlier this month, a fall of 2.8 percent, but said it expected recent model launches to fuel record profits this year.
After two years of investing heavily in hotly anticipated new products such as the redesigned 5-series, BMW is expecting to reap the rewards this year.