BMW to recall 15,000 faulty cars in MidEast

German carmaker BMW is to recall around 15,000 vehicles in the Middle East as part of its move to repair a potentially faulty battery cable in the trunk of nearly 1.3m cars worldwide. The world's largest premium carmaker will recall around 15,000 5- and 6-Series BMWs built between 2003 and 2010, of which around 6,900 are in the UAE, a spokesperson from BMW Middle East confirmed. “The issue involves a cover of the battery cable in the trunk of the car. This battery cable cover can in some rare cases be mounted incorrectly. This can cause electrical problems, a failure to start the vehicle as well as in rare cases fires,” said Leanne Blanckenberg, communications manager at BMW Group Middle East. “We are contacting our customers to ask them to bring their vehicles in for checking – this will take no more than 30 minutes and shall be free of charge to the customer,” she added. Globally, BMW is recalling around 1.3m cars for repair, but a spokesman told Reuters less one percent of the cars BMW has so far inspected for the issue have exhibited the problem and there have been no reports of fires as a result of the fault. BMW, which this year opened its largest ever showroom in Abu Dhabi, posted a nine percent increase in sales in the Middle East in 2011 compared to the previous year. The company said it was the most successful year in BMW Group's history in terms of regional sales. With a total of 18,657 BMW and MINI vehicles delivered to customers across 14 Middle East markets, it said most of its importers reported an increase in sales in 2011 and a number of markets recorded double digit growth. The UAE remained the biggest market, accounting for 47 percent of BMW Group Middle East's 2011 sales. Abu Dhabi was the highest volume selling market, with a 23 percent growth and 4,436 cars sold while Dubai also witnessed an increase of 23 percent with 4,395 cars sold. Other top performing markets included Qatar by 26 percent (1,265 cars), Saudi Arabia, with a two percent sales increase (3,072 cars) and Kuwait and Bahrain both with a six percent increase.