FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - In view of the looming victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election and weak quarterly profits from BMW, shares in German car manufacturers are likely to start weakly on Wednesday. The shares of premium manufacturer BMW fell by 2.5 percent to 70.77 euros on the Tradegate trading platform compared to the Xetra close. Mercedes lost 1.6 percent to 55.01 euros. Porsche AG fell by 1.4 percent to 65.13 euros and the shares of mass manufacturer VW lost 2.0 percent to 86.36 euros.

BMW suffered a massive drop in profits in the third quarter of the year due to technical problems with braking systems and weakness in the important Chinese market, and sales also shrank.

With a view to the USA as an important sales market for German manufacturers and with Trump as the possible new president, additional tariffs are feared. As recently as September, Trump emphasized that companies that do not manufacture their products in the USA and employ US citizens would have to accept high tariffs. However, German car manufacturers also supply the US market with production there./ck/mis