[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW U.S. Sales Were Up in March

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Woodcliff Lake, NJ – April 3, 2017… Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 3.3 percent in March for a total of 31,015 compared to 30,033 vehicles sold in March, 2016. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 1.5 percent in the U.S. on sales of 71,682 vehicles compared to 70,613 sold in the first three months of 2016.

Notable vehicle sales in March include the BMW 7 Series which increased 10.0 percent to 935 cars, the BMW X3 which increased 42.9 percent to 6,395 vehicles, and the BMW X5 which increased 35.4 percent to 4,896 vehicles.

“With the arrival of Spring, thoughts naturally turn to new cars and March gave us a nice boost as our Sports Activity Vehicles, the X3 and X5 in particular, continue to drive the growing demand,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “Our new BMW 5 Series is just breaking into what is a difficult market for sedans but orders are solid and with two more variants on their way, we are optimistic for the months ahead.”

BMW Group Sales

In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported March sales of 36,002 vehicles, an increase of 3.5 percent from the 34,795 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are up 0.6 percent on sales of 81,933 vehicles in the first three months of 2017 compared to 81,452 in the same period in 2016.

MINI Brand Sales

For March, MINI USA reported 4,987 automobiles sold, an increase of 4.7 percent from the 4,762 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a total of 10,251 automobiles sold, a decrease of 5.4 percent from 10,839 automobiles sold in the first three months of 2016.

BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles

March 2017 sales of BMW Certified Pre-Owned were 12,677 vehicles, an increase of 24.2 percent from March 20
Total BMW Pre-Owned sales for March were 21,708 vehicles, an increase of 34.3 percent from March 2016.
Total BMW Pre-Owned cars sold year-to-date were 60,183, a 34.3 percent increase from the first three months of 2016.


MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles

In March, MINI Certified Pre-Owned sold 1,056 vehicles, a decrease of 3.0 percent from March 2016.
Total MINI Pre-Owned sales were 2,955 vehicles in March 2017, an increase of 21.1 percent from March 2016.
Total MINI Pre-Owned sales year-to-date were 7,555, a 15.8 percent increase from the first three months of 2016.

[pimp4cheddar]

Interesting that SUV's are up so much! Are M sales rolled up under the Series?


Also: Who's the lucky owner of the Mini Paceman in March? I can see the For Sale Ad now:

FS: Rare 1/1 Mini Paceman sold during March 2017

[mikeriley]

Take out x3 which a lot are fleet sales to car rental and x5 and they are not doing well. These increasing mf and decreasing residuals is not a good combo.

[deemo319]

BMW M GmbH cars and M Performance cars are within each series and broken out at the end of the year under BMW M GmbH.

BMW M GmbH, BMW M Performance, BMW Individual and BMW Driver Training are all under M GmbH responsibility.

(I can't find 2016MY total M GmbH sales yet.)

Example:

2015- BMW M GmbH around 63,000 vehicles with the M in the name, which is an increase by approximately 40 percent over 2014.

The important number here is that the BMW M3, M4, M5, M6, X5 M and X6 M accounted for 35,000 vehicles and was outsold by Mercedes-AMG by a few hundred units but I can't recall the exact number (450-500 units).

With approximately 28,000 units and an increase of more than 16 percent, the BMW M Performance models were able to continue their fledgling success story and this was about when BMW M Performance was added in the year end total for BMW M GmbH.

2010-BMW M GmbH saw significant business in sales with a worldwide total as car sales rose by 14.2 percent over the previous year to 16,967 units.

The production phase-out of the BMW E60 M5 and BMW E63 M6 Coupe and E64 M6 Cabriolet models was more than compensated for by a consistently high demand for BMW M3 and the newly introduced all-wheel-drive models BMW X5 M and BMW X6 M.

The BMW M3 demonstrated its status as the most popular ambassador for the M ethos.

Worldwide, 5,729 units of the BMW E92 M3 Coupe? were sold, and 2,544 units of the BMW E93 M3 Convertible and 1,843 BMW M3 Saloons.

Sales of the BMW X5 M and BMW X6 M totalled 2,778 and 3,082.
2010 USA, where overall BMW M car sales rose by more than 6 percent to 6,821. The number two sales region, as before, was the German domestic market with sales of 1,716 cars, followed by Britain and Northern Ireland with 1,264 units.

The most dynamic growth by far was seen in the Chinese car market, where sales rose by 355 percent to 1,088 units, making China the fourth-strongest market for BMW M cars.

BMW M GmbH also registered outstanding growth rates in Brazil
(+ 237 percent) and Russia (+ 104 percent).


2008-BMW M GmbH total worldwide sales were 22,340 vehicles.

2007-BMW M GmbH total worldwide sales were 14,092 vehicles.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by pimp4cheddar

Interesting that SUV's are up so much! Are M sales rolled up under the Series?


Also: Who's the lucky owner of the Mini Paceman in March? I can see the For Sale Ad now:

FS: Rare 1/1 Mini Paceman sold during March 2017

yes.. M cars are included with the regular series.
Traditionally.. M cars represent less than 5 percent of the regular series production.

[kozzi]

Originally Posted by mikeriley

Take out x3 which a lot are fleet sales to car rental and x5 and they are not doing well. These increasing mf and decreasing residuals is not a good combo.

I'm sure they sell a lot of 3ers to car rental businesses as well. The point here is, the X* series is not gong anywhere and expansion of the line up via X2 and X7 is justified.

[iamdabest1]

I contributed in march

[ApexM4CS]

I bought an X5 on March 31st to help with the number

[firedown31]

Originally Posted by kozzi

I'm sure they sell a lot of 3ers to car rental businesses as well. The point here is, the X* series is not gong anywhere and expansion of the line up via X2 and X7 is justified.

X7 yes.. X2 well as long as the X2 isn't a mini X4 with the coupe look (yes I've see the concept). Clearly the unique styling of the X4/X6 isn't selling that well.

[DF]

I don't know why the 2'er doesn't sell better. I love mine. I guess no 4 door hurts it but my little vert is a fantastic car

[kozzi]

Originally Posted by firedown31

X7 yes.. X2 well as long as the X2 isn't a mini X4 with the coupe look (yes I've see the concept). Clearly the unique styling of the X4/X6 isn't selling that well.

Agreed. They are not selling well at all. Hopefully the stance and proportions of the X2 concept filter into the next generation X4/X6 and evolve into their own lines and not just a few changes in body panels of an X3/X5. Not too fond of calling a 4 door a coupe either, but that's just me. If the production X2 looks like the concept, it's going to be a winner.

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by mikeriley

Take out x3 which a lot are fleet sales to car rental and x5 and they are not doing well. These increasing mf and decreasing residuals is not a good combo.

Why would you arbitrarily remove the X5?

Even the X3 since you don't know how many are sold to fleets vs. customers?

[SCOTT26]

Originally Posted by kozzi

Agreed. They are not selling well at all. Hopefully the stance and proportions of the X2 concept filter into the next generation X4/X6 and evolve into their own lines and not just a few changes in body panels of an X3/X5. Not too fond of calling a 4 door a coupe either, but that's just me. If the production X2 looks like the concept, it's going to be a winner.

The first generation X6 was originally intended for the US market in General but outside the USA it's a very popular concept and continues to dominate many other markets. It's the reason why they are second generation models that exist and further models are expecting replacements and of course why there are Mercedes-Benz GLE and GLC Coupes.

[kozzi]

Originally Posted by SCOTT26

The first generation X6 was originally intended for the US market in General but outside the USA it's a very popular concept and continues to dominate many other markets. It's the reason why they are second generation models that exist and further models are expecting replacements and of course why there are Mercedes-Benz GLE and GLC Coupes.

No question it is popular in other markets. What I should have included was it does not sell well in the US market...and I want to see the X4/X6 do better here by evolving more towards the X2 concept.

Rather obvious Mercedes used a lot of tracing paper over an X6 to give us the GLE "Coupe"...but in all fairness, tracing paper is easily available. Mercedes Benz CLS anyone? Hard to believe it's been over 10 years since the rebirth of the 4 door "coupe".

[dzvero]

Im not impressed. Only X series are doing well. Surprised they sold so many i3. not surprised by i8, other than looking good its BS car

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by DF

I don't know why the 2'er doesn't sell better. I love mine. I guess no 4 door hurts it but my little vert is a fantastic car

Reasons for low selling 2 series.

1- no four door sedan
2- low production volume due to X1 production in same plant
3- many dealers in large cities step you to the 3/4 series or try and push you that direction. A friend of mine locally had a dealer rep tell him his 1 series was an " entry level " BMW as she urged him to step up to a 3 series. ( he had owned 3 E9x from 2008-2013 and downsized )

4-BMW developed the 320 for the US market to help keep the luxury car sales crown .. it worked for one year or so.. then they lost to Mercedes.

5-more profit for the sales rep and the dealer by stepping customers to an X1 or a 320

6- many 2 series models ordered by the dealer are loaded to the gills with options to increase profit on the sale. This makes the average 2 series on a lot very pricey- see X1 and 320 above ...

[iamdabest1]

Originally Posted by kozzi

Agreed. They are not selling well at all. Hopefully the stance and proportions of the X2 concept filter into the next generation X4/X6 and evolve into their own lines and not just a few changes in body panels of an X3/X5. Not too fond of calling a 4 door a coupe either, but that's just me. If the production X2 looks like the concept, it's going to be a winner.

I had an m235xi a couple years ago and loved it . I think it's not selling well because of two reasons , 1 no four door variant and 2, the car looks bad - especially the rear , I think bmw was worried if they made it look better it would hurt the 3 series which I feel has become too big !

[David70]

Originally Posted by mikeriley

Take out x3 which a lot are fleet sales to car rental and x5 and they are not doing well. These increasing mf and decreasing residuals is not a good combo.

Interested in seeing a source as 13k X3's were sold in March and skeptical of a large percentage of these going to rental fleets, then they are up 32% from last year (YTD as I think this number is more relevant compared to a signal month) so fleet sales would have to be up drastically from last year.

No matter how you slice it, light trucks are up significantly and cars are down significantly.

[Alfisti]

How did the X3 do so well given it is due for replacement, cash on the hood?

Also was the new X1 around in March last year? If not then clearly the new model in unloved.

[David70]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

How did the X3 do so well given it is due for replacement, cash on the hood?

Also was the new X1 around in March last year? If not then clearly the new model in unloved.

Small CUV/SUV's are hot right now through the whole industry.

Interesting you say the X1 is unloved while sales are up 12% YTD while the 2 and 5 series are down over 31% YTD. If there is anything unloved it is BMW cars, even with the X1 counted as one of them and up 12% YTD the car overall are down 7.7% YTD, take out the X1 and the drop is even worse.

[Alfisti]

They were hot a year ago too, something is odd about the X3 number. I assume "run out" sales as the new model approaches.

For the X1, TYD may be up but march is well down on the same month last year.

[kozzi]

Originally Posted by iamdabest1

I had an m235xi a couple years ago and loved it . I think it's not selling well because of two reasons , 1 no four door variant and 2, the car looks bad - especially the rear , I think bmw was worried if they made it look better it would hurt the 3 series which I feel has become too big !

Big is an understatement. Current F22 is the same size as an E46, so a 4 door option would be easy and long overdue for BMW customers. I think sales would increase on the 2 series and wouldn't hurt 3er sales at all.