BMW reported a sharper-than-expected drop in third-quarter pretax profit on Thursday as the strong euro, high raw material prices and pricing pressure dogged the world's biggest premium carmaker.

The Munich-based maker of the sporty 3-Series car and X5 offroader stuck to its forecast for roughly flat 2005 pretax earnings, but emphasised that it gave itself some wiggle room. "Since spring we have been asked about this analyst range of plus/minus 10 percent and have said we are coming at this from below," Chief Executive Helmut Panke told reporters.

Copyright Reuters, 2005