Year to date sales rise 3.4 percent to 2,008,849 units; BMW, Mini and BMW Motorrad notch record sales; electrified sales up 63.7% in January-October period.
13 Nov 2017 | 3151 Views | By Autocar Pro News Desk
For the first time ever at this point in the year, the BMW Group has sold over two million vehicles to customers around the world. A total of 2,008,849 vehicles have been sold in the first ten months of 2017, an increase of 3.4% on the same period last year.
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For the first time ever at this point in the year, the BMW Group has sold over two million vehicles to customers around the world. A total of 2,008,849 vehicles have been sold in the first ten months of 2017, an increase of 3.4% on the same period last year.
“Our sales results for the first 10 months of the year confirm the broad range and appeal of our model line-up,” said Dr Ian Robertson, BMW AG Management Board Member for Sales and Brand BMW. “Despite significant model changeovers and headwinds in some of our biggest markets, we have delivered over two million vehicles to customers in the first 10 months of the year. Vehicles as wide-ranging as the X1, the 5 Series, 7 Series and the BMW i3, to name just a few, have all contributed to that growth,” he continued.
The BMW Group’s range of nine electrified vehicles boosted their sales by a total of 63.7% in the first 10 months of 2017, with a total of 78,096 delivered to customers. In October, BMW i and iPerformance vehicles made up around 8% of total BMW sales in the USA, France, the UK and the Netherlands, with electrified sales in Scandinavia accounting for over 30% of total BMW deliveries. October sales of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and Mini Electric vehicles totalled 9,405, an increase of 60.3% on the same month last year. The BMW i3 increased sales in the month by 20.3% (2,851).
Global BMW brand sales in January-October 2017 increased by 3.6% with a total of 1,706,020 customer deliveries worldwide. These record figures can be attributed to increased sales across a variety of models in the portfolio. The BMW X family continues to be a strong growth driver, despite availability of the BMW X3 being significantly affected by the current model changeover. Total BMW X sales were up 11.3% (578,336) in the first 10 months of the year. Other models contributing significantly to sales growth this year include the 1 Series (161,804 / +12.5%) and the 7 Series (53,043 / +11.9%).
Meanwhile in October, the new 5 Series was delivered to a total of 29,370 (+8.5%) customers worldwide. This increase was achieved despite the ongoing ramp-up in the 5 Series’ biggest market, China. Even before the car is fully available in all markets, in October, the new 5 Series sedan was already the world’s best-selling business limousine. Other new or refreshed models such as the 2 Series Coupé and Convertible (4,689 / +5.0%) and the 4 Series Gran Coupé (6,001 / +21.6%) also made significant contributions to the brand’s sales growth.
Global deliveries of Mini brand vehicles in the first 10 months topped the 300,000 mark for the first time ever. A total of 300,212 Minis were delivered worldwide, an increase of 2.5%. With a sales increase of 19.3% and 64,339 units delivered, the Mini Countryman was the brand’s major growth driver. October sales of that model grew by 45.0% (7,503) with more than one in 10 of those cars the plug-in hybrid Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 (fuel consumption in the EU test cycle: 2.3-2.1 litres/100 km, electricity consumption 14 kWh/100 km, CO2 emissions: 52-49 g/km).
BMW Motorrad on a home run
BMW Motorrad continues to achieve record sales, with 12,451 motorbikes and maxi-scooters delivered to customers in October, an increase of 13.5% compared to the same month last year. In the first 10 months of 2017, sales at BMW Motorrad climbed 10.4% with 140,269 units delivered to customers.
Region-wise sales
With ongoing volatility in several significant markets and despite ongoing, significant headwinds in the important UK market, the company says BMW and MINI sales in Europe are stable at last year’s very high level, with a total of 901,718 (+0.5%) vehicles delivered to customers in the first ten months of the year.
Asia continues to be a significant growth driver for BMW Group sales, with the Chinese market performing particularly strongly. Sales in Asia (691,319) are up 13.1% in the year-to-date.
Ongoing volatility in the US automotive market is reflected in the BMW Group’s figures for the Americas (361,135), which in the year-to-date are 3.4% below last year’s level.