MUNICH -- BMW Group vehicle sales increased 4 percent in October to a record monthly high of 191,651 despite a decline at the company's Mini brand.

BMW sales and marketing chief, Ian Robertson, said the automaker's SUV lineup was showing "particularly good growth in a competitive environment." The new BMW X1 is in "extremely high demand," he said in a statement.

Robertson also said customers are also responding "very positively" to the new BMW 7 series, which has also just arrived in the showrooms, "so we are expecting to see additional momentum going towards the end of the year."

Sales of BMW brand vehicles rose 6.3 percent to 164,915 in October, offsetting an 8.5 percent drop to 26,392 in Mini's volume. Financial analysts Evercore ISI said weak sales of the Countryman hit the brand's volume.

BMW said it expects Mini sales to pick up when the new Clubman is available. The Clubman starts to arrive in showrooms at the end of the month, the company said.

Europe growth

BMW Group sales are up 7 percent to 1.84 million through October, with BMW's brand's volume up 5.8 percent and Mini sales up 15 percent.

Europe, the brand's biggest regional market, showed the highest growth with group sales up 10 percent, followed by the U.S. where deliveries rose 5.4 percent. In China, where industry growth is slowing from previously high levels, BMW and Mini sales increased by 2.3 percent in the first 10 months.

BMW said it sold 2,553 units of its i3 and i5 models in October, up 6.2 percent. The i brand's 10-month volume was up 80 percent to 23,133 on the same period in 2014.