Automobile Bavaria, the local importer of luxury manufacturer BMW, will reach turnover worth 150 million euros this year, against 130 million euros in the previous year. In addition to BMW and Mini automobiles, this forecast also takes into account the number of MAN commercial vehicles that will be sold. “Increasingly more customers are switching from volume to premium brands, as is the case of BMW. Given the circumstances, we have become BMW’s second biggest market in the region, after Turkey. By the end of this year, we will have sold 1,700 vehicles,” said Michael Schmidt, the company’s general manager. The number of units Automobile Bavaria expects to sell this year is in stark comparison to the company’s first year in business, 1994, when it sold just 11 cars on the local market. This year, car sales will account for half of Automobile Bavaria’s business, with the MAN trucks accounting for the rest. The import operations related to brands of the BMW group (BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce), as well as the retail of these brands is concentrated in the capital. The bulk of sales outside the capital are made through the company’s own dealers.