MUNICH — BMW expects to sell more light vehicles in China this year despite a local price war in the electric vehicle segment, and muted demand overall, the luxury carmaker's CFO said at the IAA car show in Munich.
In his first interview since becoming finance chief in May, Walter Mertl told Reuters that BMW had been able to grow 3.7 percent in China in the first half, faster than the world's top auto market as a whole, and expected this trend to continue.
"We are assuming, and we are seeing this at the moment, that we will sell more this year than last year," Mertl said with regard to China, adding that the price war was predominantly affecting less expensive segments of the auto market, where BMW is not active.
China's passenger vehicle sales fell for a second month in July, as discounts and government support measures failed to lure consumers wary of buying cars amid a sputtering economy and a prolonged slump in the housing market.
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