Luxury Carmakers Predict Strong Fourth Quarter

Luxury carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz forecast vigorous fourth quarter sales on growing demand from China.

BMW said it expects a "double-digit" percentage rise in fourth quarter deliveries, Bloomberg News said. Mercedes said it was "very confident" about continuing growth in the final three months of 2010.

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"We expect sales to increase particularly rapidly in Asia, especially in China, and the other BRIC countries," Joachim Schmidt, Mercedes' top salesman, said in a statement. "The positive development of the past several months makes us very confident for the fourth quarter in which we will continue to increase our sales."

Luxury carmakers have seen rising demand this year, as consumers return to showrooms after cutting back during the financial crisis. BMW and Mercedes, a unit of Daimler AG (DDAIF), both forecast sales growth of 10% this year, while Audi, a unit of Volkswagen, is expecting record sales.