Luxury car makers caught up in crisis

The German luxury car maker BMW joined rival Daimler on Friday in warning it would miss its 2008 targets, a sign that high-end manufacturers have been caught by the international financial crisis.
BMW said it could not give a full-year outlook after its first-half pre-tax profit fell by 35 percent in the first six months of the year to 1.24 billion euros (1.93 billion dollars).
Net profit fell by 26 percent to 994 million euros.
Chairman Norbert Reithofer provided no precisions during a telephone news conference early in the day.
Last week, Daimler and its Mercedes brand cut its full-year profit forecast to "more than seven billion euros," from a previous outlook slightly above 7.7 billion euros, owing to slumping auto markets.
The companies are still making money but profits have fallen sharply.