BMW December Sales Jump 15.7% - Ends Year Up 12.0%

The chart shows GM's sales figures..you might want to change that.

Honor thy attention to detail as horrible.

If you add those "cheap minis" in BMW would be 30,000 vehicles ahead of lexus...

Since when are incentives bad? Do they not benefit the consumer? Every company uses them its sales/marketing 101. My local Audi dealer has a 0 down 349 a month lease incentive on A4 quattros.

Dude seriously, know what youre talking about before talking s*it; car to car, BMW kicked toyo...uh, lexus's frumpy conservative ass. Every line, except the soon to be replaced 6 is UP. How is toyota's looking? Oh, right, every line is DOWN. Hell add the is, es, hs and gs total together, and they STILL dont add up to the 3 series for the year.

The only, and I mean ONLY, thing that saved toyota yet again is the godawful boring rx. They better pray the public doesnt wake up and realize how ugly and lame that thing is...

BD incentives are pre-calculated into the price of the vehicle. You most likely never sold anything if you don't know this. But they are not paying out anything. Why do you think dealers can haggle with price, you just cut into the sales mans commission. BMW still gets its par value for the vehicle.

black: despite most lexus models being direct toyota derivatives with fancy leather, lexus can't charge anything close to what BMW can for comparable models. pricing power is king, not number of units.

black: bmw is one of the most profitable car manufacturers. and that's because they make products for which people are willing to pay large premiums. why do you think lexus does not disclose its profits? if lexus were so profitable, they would be pushing those numbers all over wall street.

re: incentives. who cares? what matter is sales price. and the fact is that comparable BMW models sell at very large premiums to lexus models.

non: i'm more interested in the engine, handling, braking, ride, exterior styling, interior design, seat comfort, sound system--and a few other things--before i concern myself with how soft the leather is. take the leather out of lexus ES and what you have is a camry chassis, a camry engine, a camry transmission and a whole lot of camry parts (and that geriatric mobile is 1/3 of the lexus brand.)

cigar: you flat out lie. share the numbers please.

Its just that what your arguing about is so trivial, and pointless. What company doesn't offer similar incentives, including lexus.

cigar: what does some dealer's website have to do with "comparable" lexus and bmw models being $1,000 apart in price. please do share numbers. build an IS/3-series with the same equipment and prove me wrong. or build an LS and S550 with the same equipment and prove me wrong.

children: those who have never driven a 335i should refrain from commenting about it. and if you'd like some opinion on the car, just pick up any automotive magazine and here them gush about the 3-series. what would you buy for $50,000 that beat a 335i in handling? ride? performance? seat comfort? technology?

there you go again cigar...comparing apples to oranges.

the IS has leather standard, it's $1500 on the 328.
the IS has automatic standard, it's $1400 on the 328.
the IS has thousands of dollar in additional standard equipment that's optional on the 3.

so compares apples to apples and you'll find that a 335i equipped identically to an IS350 is about $10,000 apart.

sports: i'm not holier, just smarter. and my opinions are rooted in ownership experience and facts. upon what are your thoughts based?

fools don't usually have any money.

Considering how downmarket Lexus goes with it's rebranded Prius, and I just bought my wife a $39k Countryman, why shouldn't MINI count for BMWs sales?

@ nonofyobus

I drive a 2007 BMW 118i and there is nothing cheap about it. It's a great car, a little tight on interior space but overall it's a great car.

I also find it funny that you slam BMW for selling plenty of 1er and 3er cars, yet make no mention of the FACT that the best-selling Lexus cars in North America are literally overpriced and badge engineered Toyotas: the Harrier-based RX and the gussied up Camry known as the ES.

Oh, and I live in Munich, Germany, and there's a dealer here who imports a few Lexus ES sedans from North America to sell them here. How many have they sold so far? None. A big fat zero. An overpriced and rebadged Camry with hideous styling doesn't appeal to European tastes to begin with. And second - that car was designed for the average American entry-luxury shopper and their tastes, which, let's be honest, are not even similar to those of their European or even Japanese counterparts, who place far more emphasis on something called STYLE, PRESTIGE and ORIGINALITY.

BMW sold just about as many 7 series as 1 series last month.

@nonofyobus

non: that 'cheapass' 3-series is one of the most well-rounded and balanced cars on the planet. there's nothing that can beat it for $50,000. and there you go again with the leather....buy a lexus like most affluent 72-year old retirees.

what do you drive?

"I didn't know there were people dumb enough to spend $39k on a Mini
You learn something new everyday!"

Really? I always wonder what kind of moron buys a Lexus ES when you can have a Camry for much less. Same damn thing. Literally.

black: there are even MORE people dumb enough to spend $39,000 on a camry--i mean lexus ES.

BD, I believe the word you missed out on was "most" that being said, is there anybody with an lfa in their garage yet?

the LFA is a one-trick pony that lexus is building at a MASSIVE loss. they think that 500 performance cars will make regular lexus models appeal to more driving-oriented buyers. not gonna happen. let's do the math:

$375,000 x 500 cars = $187,500,000
development costs over 10 years have easily surpassed $1Billion

yeah...that's a winning business strategy.

black: what's really funny is that you talk about numbers that don't matter. all that matters is the bottom line: the NET price paid for each car and the NET profit derived from each car.

"And BMW dreams of building something that fast........"

Hey genius,

Ever heard of the McLaren F1? A car that whoops the behind of the Lexus LF-A and it's powered by a BMW engine. Quit your pro-Lexus/Toyota BS. It's getting really annoying.

The LF-A is a fine car, but as is the case with Lexus, completely overrated and overhyped.

black: lol. lexus has been trying to be both bmw and mercedes for years. beginning with reverse engineering the 1980s S-class to make the first LS and carrying on to every new car which they market as being a competitor to each and every bmw/mercedes models. sadly, the public is only willing to buy a lexus because it's a good value not because it's the best product.

still waiting to see just one LFA on the road--not at an auto show or press event.

no, it's hideously ugly and overpriced. are you buying one? what do you drive currently?

"The Lexus LS came all the way back and beat the new 7-series by 22 cars!"

Oh wow. So 22 Lexus employees bought an LS in order for Lexus to regain the lead in this class. And then the press release brags about "successful sales".

Give me a friggin break.

Average Lexus LS is cheaper than BMW 7 series!

Some more information of average luxury vehicles:
Luxury bargain

• BMW: $52,255
• Mercedes-Benz: $49,065
• Cadillac: $48,256
• Audi: $43,831
• Infiniti: $43,796
• Lincoln: $43,533
• Lexus: $42,794
• Acura: $37,665
Source: TrueCar


Read more: http://europe.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101220/RETAIL03/312209984#ixzz1AAXcPSVG

black: considering that, as you say, all bmw and mercedes are just cheap taxis in europe, it's amazing that bmw has the highest sale price. imagine what the difference would be in the US without all those cheap taxis pulling the average down!

the 3 isn't overpriced. you get a car that does everything very well for $50,000. what beats it for that price?

enjoy driving your kia. bye.

Hey BD,

You are an a$$! I said nothing against you personally and you call me dumb for buying an expensive MINI. I buy what I like, price and image does not matter to me.

What I consider dumb is someone who thinks an overpriced Toyota is an enthusiast car, and has to bash other cars to justify their decision to buy a boring car.

A majority of car manufactures buy transmissions from companies that specialize in transmissions. Audi buys its awd systems from another company. Welcome to the corporate world.

don't worry, you're not coming from a place of much mental power. what do you drive these days?

black: so what do you drive these days? what cars have you personally owned in the last 5 years? curious to see where you put your money.

no, thank you. but i happily paid $10,000 extra for a car that does everything better than its competitors.

BMW has pulled the greatest scam of the last decade 2000-2010. They did not sell all the cars that report shows as sold. They have been playing games all year (2010) with the finance boys in NYC & London. They coerce dealers to report sales that are not to end users. Under the guise of it keeps BMW AG's borrowing costs lower if the Wall Street analysts’ are pleased with the reported unit sales. The same game is going on at Mini to a lesser extent, but BMW NA has cancer, allot of cancer. Why else would the NADA dealer attitude survey of BMW dealers show BMW as dead last in the standings for all import brands? They, BMW NA have 25,000+ units reported in dealer inventory under the disguise of dealer demonstrators which count as sold units for BMW's purpose of reporting but in fact are not closer to driving the streets titled to owners then before the illusion of the sales numbers were published. BMW NA's yearly sales are lower by nearly an entire month from the real customer deliveries. All to keep the "Germans" happy and the financial guys playing the stock and ratings games quiet... The operation is one giant smoke and mirrors scheme and Jim O’Donnell should be ashamed of the mess he has knowingly created for the US market. He claims it is what Germany sent him here to do.....Could this be... it would be nice if someone reported the truth about this company instead of the lies they whip up for the consumption of the motoring press and financial analysts’.
Sometime soon they have to sell these cars…. When? It has not happened like they reported yet, so will they have a slow first quarter and quietly clean up the inventory debacle. Every BMW dealer in North America knows the numbers are false, say something.
Now that is the truth, debate it all you like, any dealer can do a country wide dealer demonstrator search on their DCS (dealer communications system) and get the real numbers of unsold cars to prove this post true. 3 series and 5 series units alone are more than 20,000 units unsold but reported as(dealer demonstrators) sold to the outside world… as of 1/2/2011