Global sales of the Cowley-built Mini slipped in September, latest figures from parent company BMW have revealed.

During the month, 22,618 cars were sold, a fall of 5.5 per cent on the same month in 2007.

Earlier this week, the company revealed UK sales had dropped 19 per cent in September compared to the same month last year, and were almost six per cent down on the year to date.

But worldwide sales for the first nine months of the year overall are 12.1 per cent up, with 184,915 vehicles delivered to customers and BMW management are confident of achieving a new record of selling 240,000 cars in a year.

BMW branded vehicles suffered a major setback in September with sales down 16.4 per cent to 118,310 sales, which the company is blaming on the world financial crisis.