What's another high-end stat, along with a decline in sales of apartments in the heart of New York City -- Manhattan -- that doesn't bode well for the economy? A decline in sales of performance and luxury cars.
Sales of Bavarian Motor Works' namesake brand in the United States plunged 15.2% to a 16-year low in 2008, as the credit crunch and the U.S. recession scared away even buyers for one the world's highest-quality makes, The Associated Press reported Friday.
U.S. sales declined to 249,113 vehicles, The AP reported. Global 2008 sales slumped 5.8% to 1,202,239 vehicles. BMW's shares rose 49 euro cents to 22.39 euros Friday on the Frankfurt exchange.
Economist Richard Felson said BMW's sales decline "is indicative of a pervasive economic slowdown and a loss in confidence, across society and on both sides of the Atlantic."
Sales of Bavarian Motor Works' namesake brand in the United States plunged 15.2% to a 16-year low in 2008, as the credit crunch and the U.S. recession scared away even buyers for one the world's highest-quality makes, The Associated Press reported Friday.
U.S. sales declined to 249,113 vehicles, The AP reported. Global 2008 sales slumped 5.8% to 1,202,239 vehicles. BMW's shares rose 49 euro cents to 22.39 euros Friday on the Frankfurt exchange.
Economist Richard Felson said BMW's sales decline "is indicative of a pervasive economic slowdown and a loss in confidence, across society and on both sides of the Atlantic."
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