BMW Fumbles In August DOWN 19.1% - Mini Sales Blast Off With A 83.9% Gain For Month!

"August numbers showed how tight the supply of new vehicles has been for us but the eagerly awaited new models, the X1 and 3 Series AWD in particular, are arriving and that's great news for our customers and our dealers," said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America, LLC.  "All indicators show sales momentum increasing and with the model year change now complete, we have ambitious plans for the months ahead."    

BMW Brand Sales
Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 19.1 percent in August for a total of 16,835 compared to 20,815 vehicles sold in August, 2011.  Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 5.6 percent on sales of 164,636 compared to 155,929 sold in the first eight months of 2011.

In August, best performing vehicles included the 6 Series, up 118.8 percent to 453 units; the X3 SAV, up 18.8 percent to 2,829 units; and the X5 SAV, up 21.2 percent to 3,568 units. August marked the first month of sales for the all wheel drive versions of the 3 Series Sedan (328i xDrive and 335i xDrive Sedans), as well as the versatile new X1 SAV.

BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles
In August, sales of BMW used vehicles (including certified pre-owned and pre-owned) increased 5.1 percent to 14,012 vehicles from the 13,335 vehicles sold in August 2011.  January through August, BMW used vehicle sales are up 2.5 percent on volume of 108,951 compared to 106,295 in the same period of 2011.   

MINI Brand Sales
MINI USA reported the best August ever with sales of 5,718 automobiles, an increase of 83.9 percent from the 3,109 sold in August, 2011.  Year-to-date, MINI sales in the U.S. are up 15.9 percent on volume of 43,632 compared to 37,636 in the first eight months of 2011.
 

enthusiastx11 - 9/4/2012 2:36:28 PM

+2 Boost

any idea what happened to 5-series sales? makes no sense that a car that has sold 4-5k every month for 2 years would drop to 1700 units in one month. bizarre.

7-series decline does makes sense as the new one is arriving dealers this month so that was just the rest of whatever was left.

Yonder7 - 9/4/2012 2:49:21 PM

+1 Boost

May be they did not include the demo cars on the list. X1 is nice so for me is a surprise that is not selling more...

USNA1999 - 9/4/2012 4:39:33 PM

-6 Boost

Maybe some of their prospective buyers are shifting to AUDI. It seems AUDI is the new "IT" auto to own.

enthusiastx11 - 9/4/2012 8:47:55 PM

+4 Boost

nope. A6 sales are only up 600 cars. the GS declined again this month for the 6th month in a row. and the E-class is slightly down. so where did 3000k 5-series sales go in a month?? there's some explanation out there.

enthusiastx11 - 9/7/2012 6:39:39 PM

+1 Boost

pondo: the bizarre one month decline of the 5 has already been explained: model year changeover. if you have another explanation for why 3000 buyers left the entire class of cars (5, E, GS, A6) in a month please do share.

sales of the 5 have been STABLE at 4-5k units/month for 2 years. the GS has been on a consistent DECLINE since launch. from 3,000 to only 1,700 this month. that's a 45% slide.

Yonder7 - 9/4/2012 4:43:33 PM

+1 Boost

The Old C is selling more than the see in this month...does not makes sense...

Agent001 - 9/4/2012 5:10:56 PM

-1 Boost

The breakdown is interesting...

001

Yonder7 - 9/4/2012 5:51:40 PM

+1 Boost

I think that the new 3 will move up as soon as the people get use to the front of that car. The 5 series is a nice car , even more than the E but is heavier than the E and still ugly in the front. Most of the people enjoy 3 and 5 cause they were sportier than most of the other cars...but now the character of both cars is a lot different. I hate to say this, I like the new BMWs more than ever but I feel that new cars are not what the BMW Lovers wants, And same apply to the new MBs.

HughJass - 9/4/2012 7:46:17 PM

+1 Boost

BMW is getting hammered by Hyundai and KIA. Watch out Bentley!

TauronB2G - 9/4/2012 10:43:52 PM

+1 Boost

Interesting the old 3 series outsold the new car in the same time frame next year. I went and drove the new 3 last week and while I do like it I think that many people are having a hard time with the prospect of a 45-50k 3 series. Yes it starts much lower but the ones on the lot here in Dallas as well as the ones I saw in Chicago with some nice options were faaaar closer to 50k rather than 40k. It would also be nice to see how many of those cars are leases vs finances. BMW traditionally offers enticing lease rates and due to free maintainence those lease vehicles retain high resale value which seems to account for BMWs used car business being so well.
T

chewy - 9/4/2012 11:02:55 PM

-3 Boost

No coupeconvertible and probably a lot less discounts. Probably the same with the 5 series, either they took it easy on the discounts or had some supply issues.

gkearns56 - 9/4/2012 11:17:13 PM

-1 Boost

That's because the current 3 series just isn't cutting it interior wise. I've owned a few 3ers; 1984, 2002 and 2009. The current interior with that twisty looking dash is terrible.Just give me a beautiful dash and cockpit and gauage surroundings. BMW is getting lazy trying to apease drivers who want a softer rider, rather than staying truw to what their known for - the sporty performance feeling.

enthusiastx11 - 9/4/2012 11:59:36 PM

+4 Boost

isn't that amazing! imagine that when 35% of your lineup (coupes, convertibles and wagons) is in it's last year or not on the market, sales drop.

apples to oranges.

M5twinturbo - 9/5/2012 8:11:58 AM

+5 Boost

Some should try reading, the press release clearly states its due to tight supply for some high demand new models like the xdrive 3 series, and the x1, along with the the new model year change for the whole range..

"August numbers showed how tight the supply of new vehicles has been for us but the eagerly awaited new models, the X1 and 3 Series AWD in particular, are arriving and that's great news for our customers and our dealers," said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America, LLC. "All indicators show sales momentum increasing and with the model year change now complete, we have ambitious plans for the months ahead."

JustaCar - 9/5/2012 9:49:00 AM

-5 Boost

What is the reason for poor 5 series sales?

M5twinturbo - 9/5/2012 10:05:31 AM

+4 Boost

The "the model year change" occured this month to next years models. They should be back to the 3-4K mark next month :).

thetruth01 - 9/5/2012 11:00:00 AM

-5 Boost

The same excuses BMW makes any time their sales drop.

enthusiastx11 - 9/5/2012 12:08:26 PM

+4 Boost

dear the truth.

what is YOUR explanation for 5-series decline in on month? considering that none of the competitors' volume makes up the difference. model year changeover makes perfect sense. what else do you have to explain a 60% drop in one month for a car that has sold 4-5k units EVERY MONTH for 2 YEARS?

thetruth01 - 9/5/2012 12:48:26 PM

-3 Boost

My resonable explanation is they pulled so many fake sales forward in July with dealers buying demos. I wonder how many "used" 5 series were sold last month.

Yonder7 - 9/5/2012 10:47:37 AM

+1 Boost

M5twinturbo: You might be right for 3 but not for 5 series...which again makes no sense cause the car is very nice...

thetruth01 - 9/5/2012 11:03:31 AM

-3 Boost

Funny how the ES model change month resulted in a 94.4% improvement in sales, but BMW and its Germanspies apologists keep saying model change, low inventory, tight supply, eagerly awaited new models.

C'mon BMW, just have your dealers buy up a bunch of demos again. You didn't seem to have supply issues then.

thetruth01 - 9/5/2012 11:05:37 AM

-2 Boost

GS outsells 5 series. Did ya ever think that would happen???

GG123 - 9/5/2012 2:28:48 PM

+4 Boost

But...but...this is BMW. They're not supposed to lose sales...and even AFTER offering discounts? Impossible. How can this happen?

MercedesSL - 9/5/2012 2:41:02 PM

+4 Boost

Lol, I would probably wait a few months before jumping on the "what’s wrong with BMW!" wagon. This is only one month’s sales date, and it would be premature to jump to any conclusions from it. I suspect their sales will be back to the usual levels next month.

Yonder7 - 9/5/2012 4:38:03 PM

-1 Boost

MercedesSL: You might be right but some things that the BMW is doing will hurt them: Too many gadgets will increase the fail rate, therefore customer satisfaction will be hurt. Again too many gadgets will impact the performance, and finally ugly products that cost a lot of money to develop and wont be profitable: 5GT, 3GT, X6, even the Grand Coupe if the price is not Right. Example....In my country the ones that have no enough money to buy a Merc buy a Bimmer. In the eyes of people a Grand Coupe is a more expensive car than the CLS (even bigger) but is not enough to consider it as a more luxurious than the CLS cause the MB reputation and service are Stronger. (Is also hard to see MB as and sport car as BMWs). In US as far as I see when I am there, is happening almost the same history. So I might be wrong but if they do not adjust the price, only a few will buy it now and then the Sales will sink as a titanic....so it will have the same fate as the 5GT...may better but almost the same...
In the Other hand MB is pushing a lot of new beautiful cheap cars that will perceived as "luxurious" when the fact is that those will be high volume cars as the A , CLA, New C, GLA, MLS etc. The S is other thing....

alexdethier - 9/6/2012 9:43:20 PM

+2 Boost

I'm not surprised at the 5-series sales especially if they include that god-awful GT. It's too bad they don't import the new 5-series wagon instead!

skytop - 9/8/2012 6:21:10 AM

+1 Boost

Numbers are manipulated for advantage..always. Just ask barry obama.