Automaker BMW's 2Q slips 4.3 percent to EUR 753M on rising euro, model launch costs

Luxury car maker BMW AG said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit slipped 4.3 percent, the victim of a rising euro and falling dollar and higher costs for the launch of new models.

But the Munich-based company said it still expects to sell a record number of cars this year and that its pretax profit would be higher than last year.

The company earned EUR 753 million (US$1.03 billion) in the April-June quarter, compared with EUR 787 million a year ago, below the EUR 766 million (US$1.05 billion) that analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted.

"We are still aiming to achieve a pretax profit that, adjusted for the one-off gain on the Rolls-Royce exchangeable bond, is above the record level posted for the previous year," BMW Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said in a statement.