BMW's profits plunge as China sales slump

Frankfurt, Germany: BMW said Wednesday it faced extraordinary challenges as its quarterly profits plunged due to slumping Chinese sales and a vehicl...

Frankfurt, Germany: BMW said Wednesday it faced "extraordinary challenges" as its quarterly profits plunged due to slumping Chinese sales and a vehicle recall, the latest sign of the crisis gripping Europe's auto sector.

The German luxury carmaker's net profit dropped 84 percent from July to September, and came in at 476 million euros ($512 million) -- even worse than analysts had been expecting.

Vehicle deliveries for the manufacturer -- which also makes the Rolls-Royce and Mini brands -- fell 13 percent from a year ago, and were down about 30 percent in the key Chinese market.

Sales overall fell nearly 16 percent to 32.4 billion euros.

The group said there were "extraordinary challenges" in the third quarter, in particular "weak demand in China" as well as problems with a braking system that led to a costly recall of 1.5 million vehicles.