German luxury car maker BMW AG reported on Tuesday that its second-quarter profit slipped 76% as recession hit the sales of the luxury cars worldwide.

BMW said it maid a net profit of 121 million euros or $174 million in the three months from April to June, much down from 507 million euros for the same period last year.

The results posted by BMW were much better as some analysts had projected a loss for the company in the April-June quarter as car sales plunged by about 18%.

Norbert Reithofer, CEO of the company, said, "Despite some tentative positive signals, a lasting and wide-ranging recovery is not yet in sight."

Second quarter revenue plunged by 11% to 12.97 billion euros but still better than analysts' projection of 12.7 billion euros.

BMW's European sales dropped by 11% to settle at 75,466 units in June and US sales plunged 27% to settle at 21,253 units in July.

However, BMW managed to make a free cash flow worth 516 million euros for the first half of 2009. While, company's net liquidity soared to 11.9 billion euros at the end of the April-June quarter.