Scooter

Munich, Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's third-quarter profit rose 12 percent on higher demand for the No. 2 luxury carmaker's Mini model and mid-sized 3-Series cars. The shares fell as much as 7.7 percent as profit lagged sales growth.

The Munich-based carmaker is bringing out 20 new models over the next six years to challenge DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz as the No. 1 luxury carmaker. BMW forecast record profit and sales for the third year in a row. Earnings rose more slowly than revenue as BMW increased spending on research and development.

The carmaker increased spending on research and development by 14 percent to 471 million euros in the third quarter. BMW plans to bring out a new version of the 5-Series next year to compete with the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class model.

Vehicle sales in the third quarter rose 24 percent to 262,066 cars and sport-utility vehicles. Motorcycle sales rose 11 percent to
25,016 units. Vehicle production rose 27 percent to 270,119 units.
Motorcycle production fell 11 percent to 17,062 units. Sales of the
3-Series rose 9.1 percent and sales of the X5 sport-utility vehicle
rose 12.4 percent.

The company sold 42,449 Minis in the third quarter. BMW has increased sales forecasts for the model twice this year and expects to sell 140,000 cars compared with an original prediction of 120,000 vehicles. The more expensive Mini Cooper model accounted for more than half of the sales.

Chief Executive Helmut Panke expects demand for luxury cars to
expand twice as fast as sales of volume models from General Motors Corp.'s Opel and other automakers, and he wants BMW to grab a bigger portion of that increase. To meet the expected demand, BMW also is spending 1 billion euros on a new factory in Leipzig, Germany.

BMW will shift some production of the 3-Series, its best-selling model, to the eastern German city from a plant in Regensburg, Germany, where the new 1-Series will be made. The company hired more people. The number of employees rose 4.9 percent to 101,565 people in the third quarter.

SilverCL225hp

Probably BMW should expand its Mini line to more models, something like FWD 4dr sport sedan with a price same as Toyota Camry.