The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported April sales of 19,362 vehicles, a decrease of 38.4 percent from the 31,448 vehicles sold in the same month of 2008. The BMW Group also reported a year-to-date sales volume of 70,606 vehicles, down 29.4 percent, compared to 99,977 vehicles sold in the same period a year ago. Despite the negative development in April, both BMW and MINI continue to track better than their market segments year-to-date.
BMW Brand Sales
Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 41.3 percent in April for a total of 15,705 vehicles compared to 26,735 vehicles reported in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, BMW brand sales were down 31.3 percent, to 58,436 vehicles compared to 85,100 vehicles sold in the same period of 2008.
"Industry wide, April felt more like a dust bowl than a spring garden for new car sales but at least we are seeing improvements compared to the dark beginning of the year," said Jim O'Donnell, President of BMW of North America LLC. "For us, strong BMW Certified Pre-Owned business continues to bring new and younger customers into the family while we manage the new vehicle sales as well as we can until this garden begins to grow again - hopefully by the end of the year."
BMW Certified Pre-Owned (CPO)
Sales of BMW's Certified Pre-Owned vehicles are up 1.3 percent, to 9,354 CPO vehicles versus 9,237 vehicles reported last April 2008. Year-to-date, CPO sales are up 10.3 percent, to 38,000 over the 34,461 reported in the same period of 2008. For BMW, the healthy development of the used car business adds another source of revenue to dealer operations and helps offset the decline in new car sales.
MINI Brand Sales
MINI USA reported sales of 3,657 automobiles, down 22.4 percent from the 4,713 cars sold in April 2008. Year-to-date, MINI USA also reported sales of 12,170 automobiles, a decrease of 18.2 percent, compared to the 14,877 cars reported in April 2008.
"We've seen sales stabilizing month-to-month in our segment in April but this stability has come at the price of greater sales stimulation by everyone," said Jim McDowell, Vice President MINI USA. "MINI has largely managed to stay away from 'sweeteners to the deal' in the past. However, last month we introduced a modest incentive allowing us to track better than our segment year-to-date and continue to improve our sales month-to-month since January."
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