German luxury carmaker BMW had a record first half in 2004 after the group posted a 17.4 per cent rise in June global sales to 113,886 cars.
Deliveries of its core BMW brand cars rose 19.7 per cent last month to 97,865 units, while those of its Mini brand grew 4.8 per cent to 15,972 units.
For the first half of 2004, group sales totalled 590,983 vehicles - including 319 Rolls-Royces - a rise of 8.5 per cent.
"This is the most successful first half in the history of the BMW group," the company said in a statement.
Sales of its new BMW X3 compact sports-utility vehicle and its 6-series luxury coupe and cabrio amounted to 33,275 and 10,575 in the first six months, respectively.
Together with a 51 per cent rise in 5-series deliveries, the new models helped compensate for double-digit dips in 7-series and 3-series sales.