BMW Sales Rise 15.3% In December Edging Out Mercedes-Benz As Top Selling US Premium Brand

 “BMW Group sales momentum has been increasing all year and this new burst of consumer confidence filled our dealer showrooms putting both BMW and MINI over the top,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “I have great confidence that 2012 will be even better especially with the all-new BMW 3 Series arriving in the U.S. in February with more new and refreshed models coming in the months after.”  

 BMW Brand Sales

Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 15.3% in December for a total of 26,834 compared to 23,280 vehicles sold in December, 2010.  For the year, BMW brand sales were up 12.6% to 247,907 vehicles compared to 220,113 sold 2010.

 For 2011, best performing vehicles included the 5 Series, up 30.4 percent to 51,491 units; the 6 Series, up 61.4 percent to 3,903 units; the X3, up 357.5 percent to 27,793 units and the X5 up 13.3 percent to 40,547 units.  Overall, the BMW Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) segment (X3, X5, X6) continued to show incredible growth with sales up 54.9 percent for the year to 74,532 units compared to 48,108 in 2010.  SAV sales combined with its all-wheel-drive (AWD) passenger cars have made BMW the best selling manufacturer of premium AWD vehicles in the U.S. in 2011. 

 BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles

In December, sales of BMW used vehicles (including certified pre-owned and pre-owned) totaled 16,264, an increase of 3.5% from the 15,714 sold in December 2010.  In 2011, BMW pre-owned once again was leader in its segment.  December proved to be the second best month ever and 2011 was the third best year ever for BMW pre-owned.

 MINI Brand Sales

MINI USA reported sales of 5,711 automobiles in December, up 32.2% from the 4,320 sold in December 2010.  For the year 2011, MINI sales in the U.S. are up 26% on volume of 57,511 compared to 45,644 sold in 2010.  

 “MINI’s record setting sales results in 2011 prove that small is a success in its own right even without the prodding of rising fuel prices,” said Jim McDowell, Vice President – MINI USA.  “Our U.S. customers have found they can have a great motoring experience even while enjoying strong fuel economy and a smaller footprint.  Motor On!”

JRobUSC - 1/5/2012 2:18:19 PM

+4 Boost

BMW doesn't include Mini. Read the article. Or look at the spreadsheet. You'll see a clear distinction between "BMW brand" sales and "BMW Group" sales. "Group" includes Mini, Rolls, etc. "Brand" is only cars and SUV's with a roundel on the hood. BMW brand sales were #1 in the U.S., edging out Mercedes brand sales by about 2k units for the year. BMW managed to make it the first 10 months of the year without massive incentive spending, but Benz was throwing so much cash on the hoods of their cars either in rebates, incentivized leases, "conquest cash", and lease pull aheads (they were waiving up to 8 months of lease payments for existing Benz lessees) that BMW had no choice but to increase their own spending to end at #1. Which is a title that I frankly couldn't care less about, and in fact abhor the chase of if it means doing what Benz (and subsequently, BMW) were doing to "earn" it, but I digress.

merc07 - 1/5/2012 2:37:01 PM

+1 Boost

And i guess free maint. for 4 years isn't an incentive

enthusiastx11 - 1/5/2012 3:02:50 PM

+4 Boost

pretty damn good year. of course, it makes sense given the pace at which bmw has been developing new models/engine/etc. 2012 should be even better give the new 3-series, 6-series gran coupe, new M models....

Yonder7 - 1/5/2012 3:26:57 PM

0 Boost

JRobUSC: Dear friend , did you see what was the amount of incentives from BMW and MB in Dec?: FYI MB sodl the cars 9.5% below the Suggested. BMW was 11.3% Below (that without including the free maintenance incentive.
Read this http://www.torquenews.com/1074/bmw-vs-mercedes-benz-2011-sales-race
"In November, BMW’s average incentive per vehicle had been $3,483. In December, they hiked that up by 6.1% to $3,694. That works out to a vehicle price 11.2% less than the MSRP. Mercedes was only offering $3,132 in November, and increased their incentive by 1.3% to $3,174 or 9.5% below the MSRP."

enthusiastx11 - 1/5/2012 3:58:23 PM

+1 Boost

where did you get the average car price to calculate the % discount?

oh and 'free maintenance' is worth a grand total of $800 as that's what mercedes charges on average for a maintenance plan. see mbusa.ocm for details.

BMW4me4ever - 1/5/2012 4:22:51 PM

0 Boost

Yonder ... Our location offers both Mercedes & BMW, and Mercedes was offering ALOT greater incentives than what BMW had to offer. Mercedes was waiving anywhere from 4 to 8 payments for returning Mercedes Lease customers, Conquest cash from $2,000 to $6,000 depending on the model & their winter savings incentives on top of all that. BMW in the month of December was offering $1,000 to $2,500 Mission to drive incentive, Options credits on the 7-series & 6-series up to $3,500 & on sedans an additional $1,500 in conquest money, & an owner loayalty initiative only for customers whose leases expired between December 1 & April 30, 2012.

I would say that mercedes had Alot more incentives across the board to boost their numbers, than What BMW had..... Yet BMW still finished on top ....

JRobUSC - 1/5/2012 5:00:18 PM

+1 Boost

Yonder, if you reread what I said, you'll see I said that BMW had no choice the last two months of the year to increase their spending to combat what Mercedes was doing ALL YEAR. For the first 10 months of the year Mercedes was handily outspending ALL luxury brands on incentives. Conquest cash. Incentivized leases. Payment waivers for current Benz lessees of up to 8 payments (do the math -- if you had eight $1400 payments left on your S-class or SL lease, then Benz was tossing over $11k at you to end your lease early and get into another Benz, which ALSO would have had incentives on it). Benz spent the first 10 months outspending every other brand by 40% on incentives (for most of the year the average BMW incentive was just over $3k, the average Benz was almost $4500). A typical E-class lease was $150/mo less than a comparable 5-Series. Think incentives in the form of subvented money factors and inflated lease residuals had nothing to do with that?

Anyway, point being BMW made a push the last two months because (to my dismay) finishing #1 was that big of a deal to them (and it obviously was to Benz, too). Again, I hate that practice, spending zillions of dollars buying sales forward. All those leases that terminated early would have been sales in 2012. Now they won't be. What are they going to do this year to entice people? It's a slippery slope. Simply put, I'm not a fan of chasing mythical sales titles, whether it's by BMW, Benz, or anyone else. It diminishes the cachet of the marque. Why everyone wants to be the luxury version of General Motors is beyond me. But I don't work in their corporate offices.

Yonder7 - 1/5/2012 3:31:52 PM

+1 Boost

Also 3 series is the main battle horse of BMW reaching in some cases almost 50 % of sales of all bimmers. I bet MB sold a lot more luxury cars. And in cash, I can bet they got a lot more money than BMW this year. Hopefully the new 3 keep the trend , but for me it looks ugly..but the vote of the majority will tell us the whole story.

knowitall1985 - 1/5/2012 3:36:43 PM

+2 Boost

Congrats to BMW it is a fine product.....

JRobUSC - 1/5/2012 5:17:52 PM

+2 Boost

Senorgato, if you live and were shopping all year in the U.S., then very respectfully, you are wrong. Benz outspent everyone on incentives for the year. They were only outspent the last two months, and in terms of total expenditures for the year as a whole it wasn't even close.

merc07 - 1/5/2012 5:54:12 PM

+3 Boost

So you want to tell me that 4 years of maint. free equals up to a total of $800. Please dude. OK great BMW won the sales race. But to say that bmw's maint free plan is worth only $800 is complete bull shit. Most of bmw sales are 3 series mainly the 328i. Go figure.

enthusiastx11 - 1/28/2012 2:09:04 PM

+1 Boost

yup, just build any mercedes on their site and see how much the maintenance option costs. $769 on a C-class.

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/build/class-C/model-C250WZ#options