BMW News

 

May 2017 continued BMW’s 2017 trend of better global sales than 2016. Sales during May totaled 208,447 vehicles, which was a 5.1% improvement over the same month a year ago. For the first five months of this year, the BMW Group sold 988,185 BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce vehicles, up 5.7% from January through May of 2016.

“Customers around the world are excited by our innovative new products,” said Dr. Ian Robertson, BMW AG Board of Management member responsible for BMW sales and marketing. “In May, we once again achieved sustainable, profitable growth across our three premium automotive brands, as well as at BMW Motorrad." Robertson continued, “Growth at BMW has been in part driven by our expanding electrified range—sales of these vehicles have risen over 80 percent in the first five months. With eight models, the BMW Group offers its customers the broadest range of electrified premium vehicles available on the market today.”

Sales of BMW branded vehicles rose 6.0% during the first five months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016, with 845,147 deliveries. The BMW X family was a major contributor, with the X1 proving to be the most popular. By the end of May, 113,367 BMW X1s were sold, an increase of 47% from January through May 2016. X3 sales were up 8.9%to 67,490 units, while movement of 73,418 X5 Sports Activity Vehicles represented an 11.1% jump. The BMW 7 Series also performed well, with 26,292 of the flagship sedans going out the door, a 37.3% increase from the first five months of 2016.

The BMW 530e iPerformance led the sales of 33,221 electrified BMW i and iPerformance vehicles. Total sales of these vehicles increased 80.6% in 2017 through the end of May, making BMW's goal of selling 100,000 electrified vehicles in 2017 still a possibility.

Mini showed stable growth through May with 141,767 units delivered for the year to date, a jump of 3.8 percent. The Mini Cabrio did very well, with an increase of 52.3% to 14,373 units sold. A total of 23,899 Mini Clubmans moved during the first five months of the year, a 13.3% increase.

Europe and Asia proved to be solid markets for BMW with sales increases there, but in the U.S., deliveries of new BMWs and Minis continued to slump.—Scott Blazey

[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]