Could 2002's No. 1 rumor be true?(Opinion)

Byline: Richard Johnson

BMW's GROUP sales in western Europe rose 13.8 percent in 2002. But if you take the Mini out of the mix Bimmer sales actually declined almost 1 percent last year.

(In fact, if you exclude Mini sales, the whole of western Europe was down by 3.4 percent in 2002, not 2.9 percent).

The point is that BMW brand sales slipped last year in Europe while Mercedes-Benz sales were virtually flat. So contrary to conventional thinking things weren't all that terrific for the upper-rangers in 2002.

Land Rover, Saab and Alfa Romeo were all down. Yet Volvo - ...