BERLIN -- BMW's revenues in the third quarter (Q3) rose by 4.5 percent year-on-year and reached 27.5 billion euros ($31.9 billion), a record result for a third quarter, the German carmaker announced on Wednesday.

The group's net profit of 2.6 billion euros also set a new record for the period. A year ago, the figure was 1.8 billion euros, according to BMW.

The company expanded its "strong competitive position in key markets, such as the US and China," CEO Oliver Zipse said.

BMW's revenues in the first nine months of the year also represented a new high, rising by 19.2 percent year-on-year to 82.8 billion euros, according to the company.

At the same time, global car deliveries jumped by 18 percent to 1.932 million units. The BMW core brand accounted for the largest share with 1.703 million vehicles, an increase of 18 percent. The largest increase, 62.9 percent to 4,318 vehicles, was recorded by luxury brand Rolls-Royce.

In China, its biggest single market, BMW delivered 670,964 cars in the first nine months of the year, 19.7 percent more than last year. In its domestic market of Europe, deliveries rose by 11.9 percent to 725,721 and in the United States by as much as 33.2 percent to 266,833.

BMW confirmed the outlook raised at the end of September and expects group profit before tax to be "significantly higher" than last year.