BMW Walks Away With US Sales Crown - Up 39.4% In Dec And 13.5% For Year

why would they do that? incorrectly reporting sales volume would deeply hurt the stock price.

and what I find odd, I get way better mileage on my 2013 335 than what the sticker shows. I typically get upper 30's all day long on the highway, not low 30's.

cleveland: did you notice who's the biggest advertiser here and everywhere else? toyota. they spend more on advertising than all the germans combined.

"We are the champions, my friends." Let the flames begin, no pun intended.

BMW's first place finish in the U.S. for 2012 was expected.

Mercedes-Benz USA CEO, Steve Cannon, previously stated 2 weeks ago that Mercedes-Benz would lose its sales lead to BMW in December.

record sales volume. record profits. pretty impressive. sadly at the expense of their most devoted customers. great cars but getting too soft in performance in order to draw customers from other brands.

so I take it spaces21 pays cash for all his new cars? No? Oh, then the bank owns the car regardless.

No, but I do believe that it's much smarter financially to lease expensive depreciating assets than to purchase them, and any financial planner would tell you the same thing.

Look, if it makes you feel more manly to buy new cars while the guy who leased the same car spends $10k less than you over three years, good for you. The lease guy gets the same ownership experience as you over that timeframe, and he gets another nice brand new car after three years, and he has an extra $10k in the bank. You, on the other hand, might break even trading the car three years in (but very well might be upside down), and you spent an extra $10k for that privilege. And that's for a "regular" luxury brand car, it's even more if you're talking high end cars -- the difference in buying vs. leasing an S-class, for example, is more like $22k over three years. If you want to piss away $22k because of some kind of stigma you have about leasing, go right ahead. It's your money, you are free to waste it as you see fit. Personally, I'll keep leasing and invest my extra $22k every three years and retire happily one day, years ahead of the bonehead making the same money as me who purchased the same cars I leased. But then I have a good financial planner. Do you?

ok, so you keep cars for 10 years. Just for fun let's run a scenario, using the same monthly financial outlay for two buyers:

Buyer A leases a brand new luxury car for 36 mos @ $500/mo. Buyer B purchases the same brand new luxury car and finances it for 72 mos @ $700/mo. After 36 mos, Buyer A has spent $7200 less than Buyer B, which he has invested monthly, and he leases another brand new $500/mo car. Meanwhile Buyer B is still paying $700/mo and is into his extended warranty, and has invested nothing (to make things fair I am keeping the monthly expenses equal for both parties). After 72 mos, Buyer B has finally paid off their car, and Buyer A has spent $14400 less, all of which was invested monthly over those six years. Now, in years 7-10 Buyer B doesn't have a car payment, and Buyer A is starting his third $500/mo lease. Now things will really change to favor Buyer B, right? Well no, Buyer A was able to invest the $200/mo difference for six years and continues to invest the same amount for the last four. Buyer B invested nothing during those first 6 years, and is now trying to play catch up over the last four years by investing the car payments he is no longer making, while still keeping "something aside" for the inevitable repairs that a 7-10 year old luxury car needs. Let's be conservative and say he keeps $200/mo aside for those repairs and invests the remaining $500/mo, and he prays to the God of his choice that nothing serious goes wrong with the car, since an engine or transmission or on board computer, etc. would all be thousands and thousands of dollars and thus wipe out all his savings/investing. Both Buyer A and Buyer B have spent exactly the same amount of money during this exercise. After 10 years, both have invested $24k.

Have you ever played with an investment calculator? Specifically one where they show you how much of an advantage you get by investing early? And how much more you have to invest later to make up for missed investments early? Buyer A, with 10 years of $200/mo investments, will have more money than Buyer B, with four years of $500/mo. Buyer A also had new cars the whole time, warranty the whole time, and no stress or worries the whole time. Buyer B has less money invested despite investing the same amount of principle, an old car that might wipe out his bank any day, and the stress that goes along with knowing both of those things.

Which of those sounds more appealing? I'm not going to try and tell you what is right for you, but you've made it clear you're Buyer B. Good for you. I'm happy as Buyer A. If I'm getting new cars, I'm leasing them, paying for the depreciation and pocketing the rest. The only way I'm purchasing a car is if it's a used one, where the initial depreciation already hit, and I can save a large chunk of money on the price versus new and get a long warranty. But a new car? Leasing, all the way.

space: here's a SHOCKER. 65% of ALL luxury cars are leased. it's called tax deductibility. duh. and here's another eye-opener: somebody BUYS all those cars 3 years later.

enthusiastx11: I agree but this is business man so they did it right....

yes, but they could have held true on the M cars and M sport variations.

Supply is finally catching up with demand. Beautiful designs, top of the line engineering, and class leading efficiency...I'm not surprised with these number. Well done BMW!

Impressive numbers. The new 4 series, and 1/2 series will only help!

haha, no Yaris priced cars are in the cards, but the 1 series gt is supposed to priced the same as a five door 1 series...same price as a A class or A3.

Great news,good to see the 5 series selling so well. I think its one of the best looking cars on the market.

I guesss this article is referring to over all sales volume. I see Audi was up 18.5% compared to BMW's 13.5%. Interesting.

While Audi's percentage gain was 5% higher (not very significant) the difference in total sales between the two last year was 130K units, this year the gap increased to 142K units...basically Audi has a long roads to go in the us.

Well its not really important BMW Mercedes Audi Lexus #1 why care so much, I mean i drive a BMW but dont care if they sell the most cars, thats not important to me. I dont get it.

Selling the most cars is very important to luxury car brands because it provides a distinct marketing advantage over competitors.

It will be extremely interesting to see how BMW's "Happier New Year" sales event impacted its profit margin. I bet BMW used HUGE incentives in order to get a nearly 40% boost in monthly sales.

I predict these large incentives will reduce BMW's profit margin AT LEAST 2.5%.

gkearn, Audi is the fastest growing luxury brand in the United States and has been for several years.

@GermanNut: What kind of German car are you driving now. I have owned both a BMW vehicles and a few Audi. I really like my new A6. It has a solid feel and excellent craftsmanship too.

Awesome numbers. I would like to get a new 4 series when available.

Well, the BMW dealership is right next to the Audi dealership. Had to walk through the BMW lot to go pick up my Audi from servicing today. All I'll say is that when it's time for me to trade up, it's going to be an awfully tough decision between Audi and BMW and even MB. All three of them have such strong and appealing choices. I could easily fall for a 6Series coupe, a 5 Series and I'm sure I'll like the 4Series or maybe even the M3/M4. Or I could easily go for an A7/S7. Or a CLS or E550 Coupe.

Right now, BMW has a really strong pull on me, especially that 6 Series coupe (not the Gran Coupe)

Bmwm6, what you fail to see is that Audi recorded 5% greater sales growth than BMW WITHOUT its high-volume Q3 Compact SUV and upcoming A3 sedan. BMW recorded lower sales growth even when its lineup included high-volume models such as the 1-Series sedan and X1 Compact SUV.

Once Audi brings the Q3 and A3 models to the US market in 2013, Audi's annual US sales growth will likely be 10-15% greater than BMW's causing the actual sales gap to shrink dramatically.

Gkearn, I have a 2012 Audi A6 and love it. I will be trading up to the S7 in a few months.

Lol what? Since BMW introduced the X1 a few months ago, and supply has caught up with demand for the 3 and 5 series BMW has had a considerably higher growth rate over the past few months. 1 series sedan? doesn't exist yet. There is a 1 series coupe that competes with the A3 in America. BMW will be introducing the new 2 series, and 1 one series sedan in the coming year, which will go up nicely with the new A3, and the new 4 series line will be introduced this year. BMW will definitely have a big year in 2013. You should get a new crystal ball Gnut.

Exactly my point, bmwm6, BMW has needed to rely on the X1 for the sales momentum recently whereas Audi has only used the Q5 and Q7 in terms of SUVs. Audi's A3 sedan should have all the ingredients to take on the 1-series. The Q3 is already winning comparison tests versus the X1 in Europe. Once the Q3 come stateside, Audi will see a huge sales increase.

Sure, BMW is launching new products as well, but remember a 4-series coupe is more niche than sedan. Audi has clear momentum domestically and globally. I look forward to seeing Audi further it's global success in 2013.

The X1 adds 2K units on top of BMW regular US volume which was already more than twice Audi's. Even if they quadruple current us A3 sales to 2K a month, and add an equal number of Q3s, your still taking over 10K unit diff a month, and that's not taking into account the new 1-2, and 4 series for BMW...Both brands will have decent gains in 2013.

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