By William Boston in Berlin and Mike Colias in Detroit 

BERLIN -- The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into German luxury car maker BMW AG, a company spokesman said on Monday.

The SEC is looking into the Munich-based auto maker's sales practices in the U.S. to determine whether the company engaged in a technique known as sales punching, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sale punching occurs when a company boosts sales figures by having dealers register cars as sold when the vehicles actually are still standing on the car lots.

"We have been contacted by the SEC and will cooperate fully with their investigation," the spokesman told The Wall Street Journal, declining to elaborate further on the investigation.

The SEC couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 23, 2019 16:32 ET (21:32 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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