Board member (market and product) Wolfgang Reitzle also said in an interview with Reuters that his company was ready to ride out the current regional economic crisis which had hit sales of BMW cars hard.

Asked if there were plans for any collaboration with Asian counterparts, he said, "nothing...I can't see anything for the group. We will not buy any other company (in Asia), I don't see anything anymore (in terms of joint ventures).

"This is because we have carefully developed our group to a size and structure which gives us the prerequisites for having a world competitive position," Reitzle added. "We also have a well developed international sales network, we have efficient production, especially our main plant, and have reached critical mass in almost all technical areas. We are well positioned in the luxury (car) performance sector," hesaid.

About 10 per cent of global BMW car sales are in Asia, with Japan being the top regional market. Sales in Japan are expected to rise to about 36,000 units this year from slightly below that level in 1997.

Reitzle projected that BMW's market share in Asia could rise gradually to about 25 per cent in about a decade from now. Latest BMW Asian sales data show a sharp drop in units sold as the Asian economic crisis worsened. The firm sold 23,371 BMWs in the first six months of 1998 against 31,886 in same year ago period.

Sales of other brands that the BMW group owns were also down in the same period. Only 2,347 Land Rovers were sold in the first six months of this year against 3,935 in same year ago period.

Rover cars sold in the January-June period this year totalled 3,500 against 13,427 in the corresponding 1997 period.

But, Reitzle said loss of sales in Asia would be compensated by rising sales in Europe and North America for BMWs. "BMW will sell this year, despite the Asian crisis, more (BMW)cars than last year worldwide," he said without giving details.

The board member did not believe there was a need to launch new, cheaper or specific BMW models for crisis-hit Asia, where consumer spending has plummeted and demand slowed after heavy falls in the values of regional currencies.

"There are no plans like this. The only new model is our L-7 which occupies the very, very high end of the market...more the car for the kings...tailor-made for Asia and for some countries in the Middle East," he said.

He believed that the BMW three, five and seven series models in the market now fitted Asian needs. But he estimated that it could take about two years for BMW sales to improve from their current slump, provided external factors did not depress Asia further in the near future.

On prospects for development of possible closer cooperation with Volkswagen AG as recently reported in the media, Reitzle dismissed any speculation on that front.