MUNICH -- German premium carmakers BMW and Audi remained optimistic despite posting lower global new-car sales in August.
BMW group sales including its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands fell 9.7 percent to 91,790 from the year-earlier period while Audi's volume was down 2.7 percent to 65,900 cars.
BMW said it was "cautiously optimistic" about returning to growth soon.
"We are heading in the right direction -- since April we have continually regained ground month-on-month," Ian Robertson, the company's head of sales and marketing, said in a statement.
"I am cautiously optimistic that we will be back on our growth path in the months ahead and will remain the leading international supplier of premium automobiles this year, even though we will not sell as many cars in total in 2009 as in 2008," he added.
BMW brand sales declined by 11.3 percent to 75,689 last month. Mini sales were down 1.2 percent to 16,064 while Rolls-Royce delivered 37 cars compared with 101 the year before.
In the January-August period, BMW group sales fell 17.7 percent to 817,183 units, BMW said.
BMW brand sales were down 18 percent to 679,893. Mini sales fell 15.7 percent to 136,879. Rolls-Royce sales dropped 41.1 percent to 411.
Audi's sales declined 7.5 percent to 616,850 units in the January-August period. Audi said it was certain of reaching its 2009 sales target of 900,000 units.
“We will emerge from this crisis as the strongest premium brand,” Peter Schwarzenbauer, the carmaker's marketing and sales boss, said.
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