Luxury carmaker BMW said it sold more cars in the first nine months of the year than ever before on booming demand in the US, Europe and Asia, writes David Duffy

The Munich-based car maker, which will unveil the new Cowley-built Mini at the British International Motor Show in Birmingham tomorrow, said it sold 616,000 cars in the period from January to September, an increase of almost nine per cent on the first nine months of 1999.

Driving the increase was a 16 per cent jump in sales to 135,257 units in the US. The company said notable increases were also recorded in Spain, Belgium, Taiwan and Singapore.