BMW Crawls Out Of The Abyss As Sales Rise 2.1% In September - Mini Up 9.7%

For the first time this year, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported an increase in sales compared to the same month last year. In September, sales increased by 3.6 percent to 19,175 units compared to 18,506 vehicles sold in September 2008. The BMW Group also reported a year-to-date sales volume of 179,219 vehicles, down 24.2 percent, compared to 236,327 vehicles sold in the first nine months of last year.

BMW Brand Sales

Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 2.1 percent in September for a total of 15,047 vehicles compared to 14,744 vehicles reported in the same month a year ago driven by strong passenger car sales. BMW's sports activity vehicles saw a decline compared to last year in part due to limited inventory of the X5 after the better than expected Advanced Diesel X5 model sales volume. Year-to-date, BMW brand sales were down 26.3 percent to 144,223 vehicles compared to 195,633 vehicles sold in the same period of 2008.

"For now, we'll take this first small bit of good news but the premium segment is not out of the woods yet as consumers keep on reacting cautiously to the mixed signals in the economy," said Jim O'Donnell, President of BMW of North America, LLC. "For BMW, we expect the bumpy road to continue into next quarter in advance of 2010, when we see consumer confidence improving and a major launch of new BMW products start to hit the market."

BMW Certified Pre-Owned (CPO)

In September, dealers continued to see good interest in pre-owned vehicles. Sales of BMW's Certified Pre-Owned vehicles increased 4.2 percent, to 8,033 CPO vehicles versus 7,707 vehicles reported in September a year ago. Year-to-date, CPO sales were up 9.6 percent, to 84,515 over the 77,144 reported in the same period of 2008.

MINI Brand Sales

MINI USA reported sales of 4,128 automobiles an increase of 9.7% compared to 3,762 cars reported in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA also reported sales of 34,996 automobiles, a decrease of 14 percent, compared to the 40,694 cars reported in the first nine months of 2008.

"September was another unique 'out of wack' month as many dealers reported fewer shoppers and tire-kickers after the end of the 'Cash for Clunkers' program," said Jim McDowell, Vice President MINI USA. "MINI has been fortunate to counter this climate with higher sales compared to last September and serious buyers helping the brand to continuously increase its market share."



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Yonder7 - 10/1/2009 2:43:22 PM

+1 Boost

Mercedes sold more than a 1000 S class and Brand New 7 series just 739?..interesting and against my forecast the X6 sold more than the 7 series.....However I won't say that the 7 series is a failure...instead of that I will say that X6 is selling more cause is something out of the box but as soon as the "Out of Box people" vanish, sales of X6 will sink as a Titanic but the 7 series will continue with almost the same numbers during his life....

BMW4me4ever - 10/1/2009 3:45:05 PM

0 Boost

Mercedes has an AWD version as to BMW does not. This will change with the 2010 BMW 7-series arriving in the US with AWD, plus the 760. Currently BMW only has the 750i & 750Li. Mercedes has the S400 hybrid, S550, S550 V 4, S600, S63, S65.

Yonder7 - 10/1/2009 2:50:50 PM

0 Boost

M...interesting....If you exclude the Mini, MB sold more cars than BMW...in september...3 series is the main car...X6 have a good presence...this numbers will be more interesting when the 5GT and 3GT hit the streets...

sdcarguy - 10/1/2009 3:05:59 PM

0 Boost

MB dealers and perhaps MB USA appear to be hungrier and want the business more.
Beemers seem to be more costly too compared to MB - not factoring in the maintenance.

sdcarguy - 10/1/2009 3:03:18 PM

+3 Boost

The 7 Series is most definitely a failure. What happened?

theoptimisticpessimist - 10/1/2009 3:12:12 PM

+2 Boost

Nice to see the 1er catching on, a terrific drivers car.

GermanNut - 10/1/2009 3:18:53 PM

+3 Boost

The 4-year-old Mercedes-Benz S-class easily outsells the 6-month old, brand new BMW 7-series.

The 7-series is a HUGE failure.

BMW4me4ever - 10/1/2009 3:48:25 PM

0 Boost

psst. again, the New 7-series is only offered in the short & long wheelbase versions on the 750i. In October the 2010 BMW 750ix, 750lix, 760 will be arriving to showrooms.

Mercedes on the other hand offers the S-class in the S400 Hybrid, S550V, S550V4, S600, S63, S65. That is 6 models to 2 for BMW. Wait til the AWD 750 arrives in mid-october, then you will be able to see if it is a success or failure.

david999 - 10/1/2009 5:39:46 PM

+2 Boost

It is funny that in the end, Lexus will again be the premium brand sales leader in the U.S. of A. All the people on this site that proclaimed BMW the new champ in June have scurried back to their holes.

investor27 - 10/1/2009 4:10:42 PM

+5 Boost

How can you guys think the X6 is having good numbers? It's down almost 50%. It's the 1 series that is doing well. I wonder what happened there with the 1 series to spike the sales up like that. I haven't heard of any deals when I was shopping for a 5 series a few months ago for the wife.

sdcarguy - 10/1/2009 9:01:23 PM

+2 Boost

BMW had been stingy on the 1 Series since intro with no low APR and subsidized leases. That changed recently. Either that or all the rich parents buying their kids 1ers for back to school.

Yonder7 - 10/1/2009 4:21:56 PM

0 Boost

BMW4me4ever: You are right , I didn't note that...we have to wait till the entire line with 760IL and all others star to sale in US.

Yonder7 - 10/1/2009 4:34:43 PM

+1 Boost

The 3 series still the best business for BMW. 1 series won't reach the 3 series. Also a corection Now that I see the report in a better resolution, X6 is a failure...and is going downhill very quick so my forecast was right...X6= Failure and the same will happen with the 5GT and 3GT.....mmm also compare the X6 sales against the R class....The R Class in fact looks better if you admite that is several years older than the X6 and they are diferent purposes....but I can say at this point, R class is a clear success if it is compared with the X6.

iamdabest1 - 10/1/2009 9:10:44 PM

+2 Boost

you guys r dreaming if you think 7 series will do much better with awd .. it will cost more and yet again be more of a reason to purchase an S class..
and for you clowns that think the 760i will help them you are wrong. they hardly sell. like 90% of all 7 series will be 750. most people dont want a v12... in fact, ask yourself a simple question, how many 760's have you seen of the last generation ? i saw 2 b7's and i think i saw just about 2 760's.
same goes for s600. almost all ive seen were s550's.

most likely its the design that people have not accepted. just think about it. it looks like a Lexus ls460, and looks worse than the S class.

BMW4me4ever - 10/2/2009 11:19:31 AM

0 Boost

huh? The 750li with AWD & 750i AWD will be a big success. Our location offers both the Mercedes & the 750li. The 7-series is clearly the better performer and drivers car.

Yonder7 - 10/2/2009 6:49:57 AM

-1 Boost

Well every body knows that the S class is the Leader of the segment. I think that BMW does a good job if your budget does not allows you to buy an S class, and definitely I preffer it over a LS any day and think they are diferent. Old S class better than new 7 series...thats loud and clear for most of the buyers of expensive sedans.

M53R - 10/3/2009 12:16:25 PM

+1 Boost

Not really. The BMW costs more than the S class here in the Middle East for example. It's priced too high for it's own good. But if you compare them directly, the BMW clearly wins with better technology/features, better performance, and on-par comfort. I own both so I would know... Although my S class in a 63 which is obviously a better performer than the 7.

GermanNut - 10/2/2009 2:14:11 PM

+1 Boost

The X6 is a complete failure, but this is not surprising at all.

When you build a vehicle that most people have trouble understanding the need for and combine the fact that its rear-end looks like someone smashed into it, you can expect the car's sales to fail miserable which is exactly what is happening.

I can't wait to see the X5M and X6M models further add to BMW's failures. There is absolutely no need for a useless base model (X6) to get a massive, gas-guzzling, 500+ horsepower V10 in this day of fuel-efficiency and downsizing.

BMW can continue to think 'Out of the Box' and answer a market need that nobody asked for. It will only drive up their production costs, and fail to bring in substantial revenue.

M53R - 10/3/2009 12:13:36 PM

+2 Boost

Even though I disagree, because I think the X6 is a game changer, I still give kudos to BMW for trying something new and not sticking the same front end on all their cars ;)

100octane - 10/7/2009 4:39:26 PM

+1 Boost

check