BMW, the world’s largest maker of luxury cars, said record sales boosted its second-quarter profit which rose by 18%. That was better than analysts had expected. The company – which also makes the Mini and Rolls Royce cars as well as motorcycles – said exchange rates and high prices for raw materials like steel would have some impact but not enough to slow growth.

Second quarter revenue was up by 8.7% to 13.2 billion euros. Net income rose to 787 million euros from 670 million euros a year earlier. The 3-Series is BMW’s most popular car and its sales increased by 13%. It outsold rival models from Mercedes and Audi and accounted for almost half of the company’s total vehicle sales. BMW says it is on track to increase its pretax profit this year to about four billion euros from 3.3 billion euros last year.

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