KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 12 -- Sime Darby Bhd, a key distributor for BMW in China, expects the country's auto market to deteriorate further before any recovery takes hold.

Chief executive officer Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson said the group anticipates one to two years of hardship but remains confident that sales of the German marque will eventually rebound, Bloomberg reported.

BMW deliveries in China plunged 14 per cent in the second quarter, weighed down by an ongoing price war and intense rivalry across the world's largest car market.

To streamline operations, Sime Darby shut about 15 non-BMW outlets and removed eight brands from its showrooms, while retaining Volvo, Genesis and Kia as part of its line-up.

High-end names such as Lamborghi...