The BMW Group has increased its sales by 3.8% in the first eight months of 2006, compared to the same period last year.

The number of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles sold rose by 32,582 units to 889,345.

At the Mini plant in Oxford, plans to expand capacity to 240,000 units a year are continuing. The factory is also preparing for the second generation Mini, which will be delivered to customers at the end of the year. BMW said that availability has become tighter for the ever popular Mini because of this and as a result, the amount of vehicles delivered to customers in the first eight months of 2006 fell by 7.6% to 128,710.

For the period to the end of August this year, Rolls-Royce delivered 398 Phantoms, which puts it 2.3% above the same period last year (389).

BMW sold 76,502 in August, down 10.1% on previous year (85,093).

Dr. Michael Ganal, member of the board of management of BMW responsible for sales and marketing, said: "BMW Group sales have so far developed in the upper range of what we had planned. Therefore we can confirm our forecast for the year as a whole. We will once again exceed the sales record of the BMW Group from 2005."

In August, BMW Group sales fell by 10.9% in comparison with the same month last year. However, it was the second best August result in the company's history, with 88,394 vehicles delivered.