The BMW Group sold 118,456 vehicles in April, this highest level in the company’s history and a rise of 3% over the same period last year.

For the year to the end of April, volume sales achieved by the BMW Group rose by 0.8% to 451,683 automobiles compared to 447,944 the previous year.

The group’s three brands, BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, also all recorded an increase in April and for the year to the end of April.

The BMW brand increased its sales in April 2007 slightly by 0.5% to 100,141 units (99,622 April 06). For the year to the end of April, the number of deliveries to customers also rose slightly by 0.9% to 386,273.

The new generation of Mini now available in all the major markets worldwide. This caused sales to rise by 19.2% in April to 18,263 (15,323 April 2006). For the year to the end of April 2007, sales edged up by 0.6% above last year, with 65,245 deliveries to customers.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars delivered 52 Phantoms in April compared to 52 in the same month last year. In the first four months of 2007, 165 cars were handed over to customers, an increase of 4.4%.

Dr Michael Ganal, member of the board of BMW responsible for sales and marketing, said: "With every single one of our new models, we are proving the fact that combining the ultimate driving experience with reduced carbon dioxide emissions is not a contradiction in terms. The outstanding popularity in the market of our new cars in particular proves this most impressively."