BMW posts poor 2009 results

AAP

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GERMAN luxury car maker BMW on reported a 36.4 per cent drop in 2009 net profit but also issued an upbeat 2010 forecast.

BMW said its 2009 profit had fallen to 210 million euros ($A313.9 million) as boss Norbert Reithofer updated provisional figures.

A company statement added however that sales by the world's leading luxury auto manufacturer were expected to increase this year by 50,000 vehicles to 1.3 million.

Although the global economic crisis sent unit sales plunging by 12.6 percent last year, BMW fared better than rival Daimler, because the maker of Mercedes Benz cars posted a 2009 loss of 2.6 billion euros ($A3.88 billion).

"We are prudently optimistic for the current year," Reithofer was quoted by the statement as saying.

In January, the group had already said that sales slipped last year by 4.7 per cent to 50.68 billion euros ($A75.62 billion).

Final results are to be published on March 17.

BMW's auto division was hit hardest in 2009 as auto scrapping premiums worldwide pushed buyers towards smaller, cheaper models but is poised to rebound this year.