BMW is en-route to record car sales and a significant improvement on last year's net profits after selling its 'English patient' Rover to Phoenix Consortium.

Announcing first half pre-tax results of 719 million euros (1999: 455 million euros) on a 15% increase in sales worldwide, the German manufacturer said that while operating losses on Rover had risen to 762 million euros (1999: 662 million euro) for the period, the hit for the balance of the year was likely to be small.