BMW Posts Record Revenue, Sales, Earnings

BMW AG's profit in 2012 jumped to €2.1 billion ($2.8 billion) before interest and taxes in the first three months of 2012 compared to €1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in the same period last year.

Revenue rose 14% to €18.3 billion ($24.1 billion), and worldwide vehicle sales advanced 11% to 425,500 units. All three results were first-quarter records. The group's net profit for the January-March period rose 19% to €1.3 billion ($1.7 billion).

Group sales in Europe were flat at 201,100 units. Sales in Asia surged 32% to 118,900 vehicles. Volume in North America grew almost 17% to 83,200 units, including 75,900 cars and crossovers in the U.S.

The company says first-quarter sales by brand climbed 11% to 356,500 units for BMW, 12% to 68,200 for Mini and 7% to 770 units for Rolls-Royce.

The group describes the outlook for the global economy as "increasingly gloomy" since the second half of 2011, as Europe's continuing sovereign debt crisis threatens to hamper economic growth in Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. The company says China will contribute about 40% of the world's economic expansion this year.