CONCENTRATING on the premium segments of the markets has paid dividends for German manufacturer BMW, says its designated chairman of the board of management.

Dr Helmut Panke said the manufacturer was still on track to sell more than one million BMW and MINIs this year.

The manufacturer estimates that during the first nine months of the year it will have sold more than 800,000 vehicles, about 700,000 BMWs and more than 100,000 MINIs, which represents increase in sales of about 19%.

Panke said: 'Should the economic climate remain as it is, we will sell more than one million vehicles of the BMW and MINI brands. This means that turnover and earnings will exceed the record high achieved in 2001.'

Panke added that a clear strategy contributed to the group's success.

'The BMW Group has applied a clear and, as the results show, right corporate strategy by concentrating on the premium segments of the market. Therefore we shall continue to do what has made us successful in the past and today and, moreover, to be resolute in using new opportunities to carry on building on this success.

'Growth and expansion are the aim of the BMW Group. We define the difference between growth and expansion as follows: To us growth means using our existing product portfolio to increase our success on all markets in which we participate.

'Expansion is something that extends beyond this growth. To us expansion means breaking into new segments with new products or using our product portfolio to go into markets where we have not been present yet.'

Panke added that the group would extend its portfolio into new market segments, citing the BMW 6 Series, which he said revives the brand tradition with the introduction of large coupés and convertibles, the BMW 1 Series and the BMW X3 as prime examples of this.