German top-of-the-range carmaker BMW today said it is "cautiously optimistic" for business in 2013 after achieving the best year in the company's history last year.

"After achieving a record-breaking year in 2012, the BMW group's outlook for the current 12-month reporting period is cautiously optimistic, based on ambitious targets set amid a persisting difficult and volatile economic environment," BMW said in a statement.

"We are aiming to achieve a further rise in unit sales in the current year and hence a new sales volume record," said chief executive Norbert Reithofer.

However, earnings would likely remain stable, he said.

"Due to high levels of expenditure for new technologies and models as well as investment in the production network, we expect to report group profit before tax on a similar scale to the year 2012," Reithofer said.

As reported last week, net profit rose by 4.4 per cent to 5.122 billion euros (USD 6.6 billion) in 2012 and pre-tax profit was up 5.9 per cent at 7.819 billion euros.

Deliveries to customers grew by 10.6 per cent to 1.845 million vehicles, driving revenues 11.7 per cent higher to 76.848 billion euros.

BMW said that given the strong demand for its vehicles, it planned to continue investing in boosting capacity in 2013.

"Development costs for new technologies and vehicle concepts will also continue to rise. 2013 alone will see the launch of eleven new models," BMW said.

On the back of its 2012 results, BMW said it would propose increasing the dividend to 2.50 euros per share from 2.30 euros for 2011.