BMW sedans are not selling well. There’s no other way to put it. All models but the 2-series and the 7-series saw decrease in sales, with the whole range down a whopping 18.3%. Even the prototypical BMW, the 4 series, dropped 2.2% None of this can be seen as good news back in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. But the X-series variants did much better, with a sales growth of a bit more than 12.3% All variants of the X range save the X5 had a pretty good month (this is especially true for the new X1). With gas prices so low, it’s no surprise that the i3 numbers tanked. Personally, I was a bit surprised about this, because I’m seeing many more of them around the grocery story in Portola Valley, CA.

To put this into a broader context, US light vehicle sales were up 6.8% for the month. And no, it’s not because this year is a leap year. Despite the extra calendar day, the number of sales days was the same as last year, at 24. There is another double insult in the numbers: in terms of volume, BMW NA sales were behind both Mercedes-Benz and Lexus; and compared to last year, the only brand in Matt’s Luxury Index that had a worse Feb was Infiniti!

Matt's Luxury Index for Feb 2016. Not really good news for BMW USA. BMW underperformed the index average, as well as it's two main competitors M-B and Lexus.
Matt’s Luxury Index for Feb 2016. Not really good news for BMW USA. BMW underperformed the index average, as well as it’s two main competitors M-B and Lexus.

Official News: Woodcliff Lake, NJ – March 1, 2016… Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 10.7 percent in February for a total of 22,498 compared to 25,201 vehicles sold in February, 2015.  Year-to-date, BMW brand is down 8.2 percent from the same period last year with sales of 40,580 vehicles.

BMW_NA_Feb_2016_Sales_Numbers

Notable vehicle sales include the BMW X1 which increased 60.2 percent, the BMW X3 which increased by 19.5 percent, and the BMW 2 Series which increased by 107.5 percent.

“February showed again the accelerating pace of BMW Sports Activity Vehicles is clearly more than a trend with our X models accounting for 45% of sales this past month,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America.  “With Spring only three weeks away and the travel season on the horizon, the growing success of the 7 Series and the 2 Series also makes us confident there’s more to come.”

BMW Group Sales
In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported February sales of 25,337 vehicles, a decrease of 12.4 percent from the 28,921 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago.  Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are down 8.7 percent from the same period last year with 46,657 vehicles sold.

BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles

  • In February, BMW Certified Pre-Owned sold 8,649 vehicles, down 6.0 percent from February 2015.
  • Total BMW Pre-Owned sold 14,887 vehicles in February 2016, a 1.7 percent decrease from February 2015.
  • The Total BMW Pre-Owned cars sold year-to-date were 28,630, a 3.7 percent decrease from the first two months of 2015.