BMW Group posts 7.9 percent rise in global sales in February

On the back of its centenary year celebrations, the BMW Group set a new record by achieving the best-ever February sales globally. The Group sold a total of 163,965 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles, up 7.9% compared to the same month last year. In the year-to-date, 316,846 units have been sold, an increase of 7.7% compared with the same period last year.

Incidentally, Mercedes-Benz sold 133,752 vehicles in February, its highest ever for the month with a YoY growth of 11.2%.

Commenting on the sales, Dr Ian Robertson, member of the board of management of BMW AG responsible for Sales and Marketing said, “As we activate our year of centenary events, I’m delighted that our sales continue to grow at a sustainable rate. As we expected, we are seeing tailwinds in some markets but headwinds in others. However with our innovative new models, we remain optimistic that we will continue to achieve steady sales growth as the year progresses.”

In the first two months of 2016, sales of BMW-brand vehicles increased by 8.3% to 277,304 units worldwide. The growth was driven by a variety of models as BMW 1 Series sales increased by 14.3% (24,621), while a total of 24,014 BMW 2 Series models were sold so far this year with the 2 Series Active Tourer accounting for 10,699 of those sales and the 2 Series Gran Tourer for 6,698 units. The year-to-date sales of the new BMW 7 Series stood at 6,506 units, an increase of 21.6% compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, the BMW X family continued to be a strong growth driver: BMW X1 sales increased by 59.6% (28,882), BMW X3 sales rose 16.8% (22,694) and BMW X6 sales grew by 20.3% (6,869).

A total of 2,871 BMW i vehicles have been delivered to customers worldwide in the year-to-date. Since the sub-brand was first introduced at the end of 2013, over 50,000 innovative BMW i vehicles have been sold.

Meanwhile, Mini sales increased 4.1% in the first two months of the year, with a total sales of 39,237 units. One significant growth driver was the Mini 5 door, which sold 11,606, up 29.5% YoY. So far this year, the recently launched Mini Clubman has been delivered to a total of 5,603 customers around the world.

Sales by region

The sales trend in Europe continued to remain strong with deliveries of BMW and Mini vehicles in the first two months totalling 134,140 units, up 11.4% YoY. Almost all markets achieved sales growth, with double-digit increases recorded in several markets including Italy (12,522 / +12.4%), France (12,172 / +13.3%) and Spain (8,949 / +22.5%).

The Group also posted a 12.1% rise in sales in Asia with total sales of 113,588 units in the first two months. In Mainland China, sales rose 12.7% (80,215) even as Japan posted a 15% increase in sales (9,491) and deliveries in South Korea climbed 13.3% (9,328).

Meanwhile, sales in the Americas continued to plunge as year-to-date sales of BMW and Mini vehicles were down 6.4%, with total 58,174 units sold. Although sales totaling 46,657 in the USA were 8.7% down on the same period last year, deliveries in Canada rose 8.8% (5,191).

BMW Motorrad continued to achieve strong sales growth with deliveries in the year-to-date up 12.1%. Around the world, a total of 17,323 BMW motorcycles and maxi-scooters were sold in the first two months of 2016.