FRANKFURT, April 7 German luxury car makers BMW and Daimler reported sharp drops in March sales Tuesday but pointed to encouraging signs in the United States and Germany, two key markets.

BMW said it sold 126,375 vehicles last month, a drop of 17.2 per cent from March 2008. Sales of the BMW and Mini brands fell 17 per cent and 18.5 per cent, respectively.

“We have observed some encouraging signs in important markets like the United States and Germany but it is too early to speak of a turnaround in the trend at a global level,” sales director Ian Robertson said in a statement.

US sales fell by less than the market as a whole while in Germany the drop was limited to 1.1 per cent.—AFP