FRANKFURT (Reuters) - BMW's (DE:BMWG) first-quarter operating profit slid 2.5 percent, slightly missing expectations, due to currency headwinds and higher administrative and selling expenses.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were 2.46 billion euros (£1.93 billion), just below the 2.48 billion euros forecast in a Reuters poll as the value of the British pound and the Chinese renminbi hit profits.
Auto sales rose 5.9 percent to a new quarterly record.
The return on sales at BMW's automotive division narrowed to 9.4 percent from 9.5 percent a year earlier, in its target range of 8-10 percent, financial results published on Tuesday showed.
The BMW Group reaffirmed its cautious full-year forecast of achieving slight increases in sales volume in the Automotive segment and group profit before tax in 2016.
It warned of high levels of upfront expenditure for new technologies, intense price competition and rising personnel expenses.
BMW has seen sales momentum slow down in China, the world's biggest car market, as it prepares to launch new models like the long-wheelbase version of the X1 offroader.
In the first quarter, sales of Mercedes' (DE:DAIGn) passenger cars there jumped 36.4 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with 11.2 percent China growth for BMW.