Global sales of the world's leading luxury car brand, BMW, raced ahead by 11.6 per cent last year amid soaring demand for premium autos in the US and China, the company said Thursday.
This brought total sales for the BMW brand in the year to a record 1.54 million units and followed an 18.8-per-cent jump during December alone compared with the same month in 2011.
Munich-based BMW said group sales, which in addition to its flagship BMW brand include its compact Mini and top-of the-range Rolls Royce, surged by 10.6 per cent to 1.85 million - its highest level in the company's history.
"We enter the new year with positive momentum and despite the prevailing headwinds in some markets, we aim to achieve another record year in sales in 2013," said BMW sales chief Ian Robertson.
"This year marks the beginning of a new era for the BMW Group, as we launch the all-electric BMW i3 towards the end of the year," Robertson said.
Rolls Royce sales hit 3,575 last year - their highest level in the carmaker's 108 history. This represented an increase of 1 per cent compared with 2011.
BMW group sales in Asia soared by 31.6 per cent last year, powered ahead by a 40.4-per-cent increase in China over the previous year, the carmaker said.
In the US, BMW group sales climbed by 13.8 per cent to 347,583 units.
Despite Europe's long-running debt crisis, sales in BMW's biggest market gained 0.8 per cent in 2012.