BMW, whose liveried official Olympic cars are omnipresent on London’s streets, today reported its second-best trading quarter ever despite the global financial crisis.
The German carmaker’s premium-priced models continue selling well at a time when the cheaper end of the market, such as Peugeot, has been suffering badly.
Underlying profits, measured before interest payments and tax, came in at €2.27 billion (£1.78 billion) for the second quarter. While that was down 19% on the previous quarter’s record performance, it remained ahead of investors’ forecasts and was applauded at a tough time for the industry.
Analysts said the profit figure declined amid widespread price cutting in the car market.
This month Peugeot Citroën announced plans to axe 8000 jobs and close a major plant.
