Rover's owner BMW has blamed the phasing out of a series of old models, including two Cowley-built executive cars, for a drop in sales and profits.

BMW said the fall in Rover sales dragged down its profits last year, but that the overall group had a successful year.

The firm said Rover was hit by "significantly higher losses" after being hit by the strong pound and the phasing out of the small Rover 100, the old Land Rover Discovery and the Cowley-built Rover 600 and 800 saloons.

Sales in the UK fell 11 per cent to 205,000, while global vehicle deliveries slumped six per cent to 487,700.

BMW also pledged that the new Rover 75 luxury saloon, being built at Cowley, would be on the market in the first half of this year1999.

It had been due to be launched in March, but the sale date has been pushed back as efforts are made to ensure its quality meets stringent BMW standards. But the group said it was not all gloom at Rover, which saw demand grow for the Mini - celebrating its 40th birthday this year - and saw strong sales of the new Land Rover Freelander.

In a letter to shareholders, BMW said deliveries by the Rover Group to continental Europe jumped seven per cent, with Italy being its biggest market.

Sales to the Asia market were hit hard by the economic slowdown, with a 42 per cent slide in sales to Japan. Sales of the new Land Rover Discovery started in November.

The final figures for the year follow the resignation in December of Rover's chairman and chief exec- utive Dr Walter Hasselkus, who took the blame responsibility for the group's falling UK sales. His departure came as the company negotiated a far-reaching settlement to cut £150m of costs and shed 2,500 jobs.

A BMW spokesman said full financial figures on sales values and profits will be revealed in BMW's final results in March.

Story date: Saturday 30 January

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.