Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, said Asian sales rose 14 percent to a record last year, after it sold more BMW-brand cars and Mini vehicles in China.

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Sales climbed to 126,949 cars last year in Asia from 111,571 in 2005, it said in a statement released in Singapore today. The carmaker sold 109,848 BMW-brand cars in the region last year, 16 percent more than in 2005, while Mini car sales increased 3.7 percent to 16,959.

"The BMW Group grew more strongly in Asia than in any other region of the world," Michael Ganal, a member of BMW's board of management, said in the statement. The company is "moving toward" its aim of producing 150,000 cars annually in Asia by 2008," he said.

Munich-based BMW, which is poised to open its fifth Asian production plant in India, is enjoying record sales as the fastest economic expansion in East Asia in almost a decade prompts consumers to step up spending. The carmaker, which also has plants in China, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, produced about 30,000 cars in Asia.

Shares of the carmaker declined 2.4 percent to 45.43 euros, at the close of trading in Frankfurt yesterday. The stock has risen 17 percent in 2006, the biggest yearly gain since 2003.

China, Japan

Sales of BMW and Mini cars surged more than 50 percent to 36,357 last year in the Chinese mainland, the second-biggest market for the BMW 7 series in 2006. Japan sales climbed 5.6 percent to 62,068 cars, making it the largest individual market in Asia for the carmaker.

BMW, which invested $26 million in its Indian plant, plans to start production of the BMW 3 and 5 series at the end of March and May, respectively. The plant has a capacity for 1,700 units and will make cars for domestic sale.

Singapore remained its largest market in the Southeast Asia region, recording sales of 3,857 cars in 2006, 6.4 percent more than the year before, led by the BMW 5 and 7 series.

Sales in Thailand fell 9 percent, hurt partly by the political instability in the country, it said. Thailand has been under martial law since Sept. 19, when armed forces led by army chief Sondhi Boonyarataklin ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government in a bloodless coup.

"There will be elections and we are quite confident that Thailand will come back to a steady path," Ganal told reporters in Singapore today. "The growth of the Thai economy will continue and we are happy with our plant" in Thailand.