BMW starts year on right foot

Germany’s BMW is reporting a great start to the year with a 17 per cent increase in January.

The company says strong inroads in the Asian market and steady growth in the North American realm helped spur the positive figures.

Total sales last month for the BMW Group (which includes MINI and Rolls-Royce) jumped to 82,120 cars, the company said. At the same time, deliveries of “core BMW brand cars” rose 16 per cent to 69,852.

“We are aiming for growth in the single-digit percentage range for 2010, and intend to sell more than 1.3 million vehicles,” BMW board member Ian Robertson told The Associated Press.

Asian sales were up 75 per cent on the year in January as deliveries also rose 122 per cent.

- with files from The Associated Press.