A favorable world auto market helped German carmaker BMW to post profits 11 percent higher in the second quarter than the same period last year, according to results released yesterday. The Munich-based firm reported profits of 1.95 billion euros ($2.2 billion) with revenue worth 25 billion euros. BMW chairman Harald Krueger said the carmaker's performance was a new record for the second quarter, putting it on track to hit its targets for the full year in 2016.

"We forecast slight increases, and hence new record figures, for sales volume and profit before tax in 2016," Krueger said in a statement. Unit sales across the company's three car brands - BMW, Mini, and Rolls Royce - climbed 5.7 percent from April to June to reach 605,534. That brought underlying, or operating, profit to 2.7 billion euros - eight percent higher than the same period in 2015. Most of BMW's growth came from Europe and Asia, with unit sales up 11.2 percent and 7.3 percent. But unit sales in the Americas declined overall by 8 percent, with a double-digit drop of 10.2 percent in the important USA market.

Growth was largely driven by increased orders for flagship models such as the BMW 7 series.