BMW Group achieves its highest H1 sales ever

The BMW Group, comprising BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles, reported a steady growth in sales with 208,813 vehicles being sold globally in June, a year-on-year increase of 8.0%. This has propelled the group to achieving its best first-half sales figures ever, with 1,099,748 units sold, a yearly growth of 7.8%.

Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Sales and Marketing, said: “We are pleased with the growth achieved in the first half of 2015.” “Despite headwinds in some markets, we are seeing overall growth all around the world in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The innovative new cars we have premiered recently are coming fully onto the market and I am confident they – and the further new models we plan to bring out – will ensure this sustainable rate of growth continues into the second half of the year,” Robertson added.

Within the group’s brands, BMW led the pack with 172,437 deliveries to customers in June, a year-on-year increase of 5.0%. The comparatively mass market BMW brand provided 85% of the group’s total sales in H1 2015. Sales of the recently refreshed 1 Series rose 2.8% in June with a total of 17,271 units delivered to customers around the world. The new 2 Series continued to grow its sales with 14,514 units sold last month. The 4 Series, which went on sale globally in 2014 but is not available in India yet, saw an increase in sales of 42.1% compared to the same month last year – a total of 16,693 units were delivered to customers in June. As the global trend for SUVs continued, the X family remained a significant growth driver for the brand. A total of 4,910 customers took delivery of a X4 in June while sales of the X5 were up 33.8% to total 17,520 and deliveries of the X6 climbed 49.9% to 5,009.

BMW i, the sub-brand founded in 2011 to design and manufacture plug-in electric vehicles, reported sales of 2,071 units for the month of June, up 65% from last year. Cumulative figures for the first half of the year indicated 12,562 customers had taken the leap towards electric vehicles by purchasing BMW i vehicles.

The Mini brand posted its best ever first half-year sales figures, delivering 165,938 units to customers, an increase of 25.8% from last year. June sales followed a similar growth pattern, increasing to 36,025 units, 25.4% higher than June 2014. Sales of the 3-door MINI grew by 33.0% in the first six months of the year, with customer deliveries totaling 62,599. The new 5 door MINI was handed over to a total of 44,943 customers worldwide in the same period.

“With strong double-digit growth, Mini has had a flying start to 2015,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management BMW AG, responsible for Mini, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad. “We’ll continue this momentum into the second half of the year and expect that the new MINI Clubman we premiered in June, which will be on the market from October, will bring us even more new customers. With our recently announced strategic and visual re-alignment of the brand, we’ll build on the Mini success story and achieve a new record year for MINI,” Schwarzenbauer added.

All sales regions globally reported an increase in sales figures for the group. In Asia, deliveries of BMW and Mini models stood at 336,344 units in the first half of 2015, an increase of 4.5% compared to 2014. Sales in Mainland China for the year-to-date grew 2.5% compared with the same period last year; 230,601 vehicles were sold in China this year until June. South Korea continued to be a growth driver in the region with total sales in the first six months of 26,158, up 19.1% on last year. Japan also recorded double-digit growth – sales there were up 10.7% to total 33,876 units in the year-to-date.

In the American region, BMW and Mini sales totaled 241,798 units, an increase of 9.5% compared to the same period last year. The first half of 2015 also saw success in Europe, where a total of 488,098 BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered, an increase of 9.4%.

Sales for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, however, declined 10.1% compared to the first half of 2014, with 1,769 units being delivered. The slowdown can be attributed to growing concerns with the Chinese economy and the corresponding decline in demand from the Chinese luxury car market. Sales in all other regions were in line with company expectations.

As reported by Autocar Professional earlier, BMW Motorrad, the motorcycle brand of BMW, also posted its best ever H1 sales, with 78,418 customers taking delivery of their 2-wheelers. The monthly figures for June also set a new sales record for the company, with 15,490 motorcycles and maxi-scooters being delivered to customers.