Munich . Thanks to strong demand on the international auto markets during the second quarter and for the full year, the BMW Group now expects that business performance and earnings will be significantly better than previously forecast. It is therefore raising its sales volume and earnings forecast for the current financial year.

It is now forecast that unit sales in 2011 will increase above 10% compared to the previous year to over 1.6 million BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand cars. The forecast for the year had previously been for a sales volume of over 1.5 million units. The number of vehicles handed over to customers worldwide during the first half of 2011 increased by 19.7% to 833,366 units. The BMW Group continues to aim to achieve a reasonable balance in sales volume between Europe, Asia and the Americas.

In view of the strong performance to date and the good outlook for the coming months, the Automotive segment is now expected to achieve an EBIT margin of over 10% for the full year, compared to the previous forecast of over 8%. The BMW Group continues to target a return on capital employed (RoCE) in excess of 26%.

Sales volume and earnings growth in the automotive segment is likely to be dampened during the second half of the year by changes affecting some of the BMW Group’s high-volume models as well as by the market launch and production start-up of successor models.

As a result of attractive market conditions and a less acute risk situation, the Financial Services segment continues to aim to achieve a significant improvement in pre-tax profit and a return on equity of over 18% in 2011. The sharp improvement in the risk profile for residual values and credit risks will be reflected in second-quarter earnings with a positive low three-digit million euro amount.

Based on the considerably improved outlook, the BMW Group now expects to achieve an even greater improvement in pre-tax earnings than originally predicted.

All of these targets are based on the assumption that economic and political conditions remain stable and that the global economy continues to grow.

The BMW Group continues to target an EBIT margin of between 8% and 10% and a return on capital employed (RoCE) in excess of 26% for its automotive segment in 2012. The Financial Services segment is striving to achieve a return on equity of at least 18%.

The Quarterly Report to 30 June 2011 will be published on 2 August 2011.