BMW Sees Indications of Sales Recovery

Official release: The BMW Group delivered 127,546 (prev.yr. 146,136) BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand automobiles to customers in June, in market conditions that remain difficult. This gave the company its highest monthly sales figures so far this year. The sales decrease of -12.7% was again much smaller than in previous months. The BMW Group sold 615,454 (prev.yr. 764,874) vehicles in the first half of the year. As a result, the company was able to expand its market position in the premium segment over the first six months and gain market share.

Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Sales and Marketing: “There are first indications of a slight recovery on the automobile markets. It remains to be seen whether this trend will be sustained. With 12.7%, the BMW Group saw a much smaller decline in sales volumes in June than in previous months. In the first half of the year we were able to gain market share in the global premium segment, as we had planned. With a decrease of 18% in the second quarter, we also performed better than in the first, where sales were down about 21%.”

The BMW brand recorded 105,220 sales in June – 13.4% lower than the sales level for the same month last year (121,570). MINI also reported a decrease in sales of 8.9% to 22,273 units (prev.yr. 24,452), while the Rolls-Royce brand sold 53 automobiles in June (prev.yr. 114 / -53.5%).

In the first half of the year, global sales of the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands decreased 19.5% to 615,454 (prev.yr. 764,874) vehicles. Customer deliveries for the BMW brand were down 19.4% to 513,591 (prev.yr. 637,569) vehicles. MINI recorded a decrease of 19.9% to 101,534 units (prev.yr. 126,810). Rolls-Royce Motor Cars handed over 329 cars to customers (prev.yr. 495 / -33.5%) in the first six months of the year. Ian Robertson: “New models like the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo and the BMW X1 will give sales a further boost in the second half of the year.”

The new BMW Z4 again proved highly popular with customers in June: A total of 3,825 Z4 Roadsters were sold worldwide (prev.yr. 1,796 / +113.0%). The BMW X6 also made gains of 7.8% to reach a total of 3,693 (prev.yr. 3,426) deliveries in the month under review. The BMW flagship also experienced strong growth: 4,357 (prev.yr. 3,630) customers around the world bought a new BMW 7 Series in June. This represents an increase of 20.0%.

As far as its markets are concerned, the BMW Group experienced strong growth in June, including in Germany. In the month under review 30,032 units (prev.yr. 26,029), or 15.4% more BMW and MINI brand vehicles, were delivered here. In particular, the BMW 1 Series (8,378 / +16.8%) and 5 Series (3,875 / +8.1%), the new BMW Z4 (1,003 / +267.4%) and the BMW 7 Series (749 / +148.0%) drove this growth. MINI even managed to grow by 45.5% in Germany in June (4,363 / prev.yr. 2,998), achieving its highest ever monthly sales figure. In the year to the end of June the BMW Group sold 136,770 (prev.yr. 149,970 / -8.8%) units in Germany.

With sales of 8,506 automobiles, China also achieved a new monthly record in June. In the month under review 44.3% more vehicles were sold than the previous year (5,893 units). A total of 37,627 (prev.yr. 30,325) BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered to customers in China (+24.1%) in the first half-year.

In addition, the BMW Group also remained on its growth track in the BRIC countries, with sales of 289 (prev.yr. 240) vehicles in India and 498 (prev.yr. 242) deliveries in Brazil in June. This represents an increase of 20.4% and 105.8% respectively. Between January and June a total of 1,747 (prev.yr. 1,563 / +11.8%) BMW and MINI vehicles were sold in India and 1,832 (prev.yr. 1,430 / +28.1%) in Brazil.

In the world’s largest automobile market, the United States, BMW and MINI were able to gain further market share in June: In total, 20,849 (prev.yr. 26,155 / -20.3%) vehicles were sold to customers last month. For the year to the end of June, 114,448 (prev.yr. 158,080 / -27.6%) BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered; and, with 93,563 (prev.yr. 131,513) sales, BMW was easily able to maintain its top position as the best-selling premium automobile brand in the U.S. The brand also set a new monthly record in Canada, where, for the first time, more than 3,000 BMW vehicles were sold in one month: 3,003 (prev.yr.. 2,943 / +2.0%) to be precise.