Munich - German luxury carmaker BMW said Tuesday that it was lowering its profits forecast for 2009, following disappointing third-quarter results.

Profits plunged 62.9 per cent to 298 million euros (375 million dollars) compared to the same quarter of 2007, the company said in a statement released in Munich.

Turnover was down 8.6 per cent to 12.59 billion euros as global sales dropped 4.2 per cent to 349,098 vehicles, the company said.

BMW, along with other German auto manufacturers Daimler AG, Opel and Porsche recently announced production cutbacks because of a fall- off in demand triggered by the global financial crisis.

The Munich-based company said it faced additional costs of 1.3 billion euros for the first nine months of 2008 to cover credit losses and compensation payments related to job cuts.

BMW said it planned to produce 40,000 fewer cars this year and did not expect to meet its goal of beating last year's sales record.