Oct 8 (Reuters) - German luxury carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) expects volumes to grow at a double-digit rate in the fourth quarter, helping lift full-year sales to over 1.4 million vehicles.
"We have exceptional new products and intend to maintain this upward trend (in sales) throughout the fourth quarter. Here, we expect to see robust growth in the double-digit percentage range," BMW sales chief Ian Robertson said in a statement on Friday. This would imply an increase to at least 381,430 vehicles in the three months to end-December, according to Reuters calculations, since BMW had sold 346,756 units in the fourth quarter of 2009.
That would mean group volumes should reach just over 1.44 million units this year, the second largest figure on record for BMW after 1.50 million vehicles sold in boom year 2007.
BMW added group vehicle sales rose 16.8 percent in September, a tick better than its guidance last week in Paris, when it said volumes would rise 16 percent. [ID:nFAB015785]
(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner)
