BMW Sales Derail With An 8.0% Shortfall In August

Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 8.0 percent in August for a total of 25,531 compared to 27,755 vehicles sold in August, 2015. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is down 8.3 percent in the U.S. on sales of 204,744 vehicles compared to 223,348 sold in the first eight months of 2015.

Notable vehicle sales in August include the BMW 7 Series which increased to 1,230 cars, the BMW X3 which increased to 4,668 vehicles, and the BMW X5 which increased to 4,121 vehicles.

"The clear trend toward Sports Activity Vehicles took a good-sized leap forward in August, as our U.S. plant again increased production and availability of the always popular BMW X3 and X5 pushing total X model sales to 44% of BMW retail in the U.S. in August," said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. "With the production increase, I fully expect the key SAV numbers to remain strong in the U.S. through the end of the year."

BMW Group Sales
In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported August sales of 30,500 vehicles, a decrease of 7.2 percent from the 32,864 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are down 9.2 percent on sales of 239,631 vehicles in the first eight months of 2016 compared to 263,908 in the same period in 2015.

MINI Brand Sales
For August, MINI USA reported 4,969 automobiles sold, a decrease of 2.7 percent from the 5,109 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a total of 34,887 automobiles sold, a decrease of 14.0 percent from 40,560 automobiles sold in the first eight months of 2015.

GermanNut - 9/1/2016 5:07:51 PM

+2 Boost

BMW's sales continues to struggle across its model lineup from sedans and coupes to SUVs.

The 3-Series sales collapsed 42% in August and are down nearly 25% YTD.

The 4-Series hasn't fared much better with a 22% monthly decline and 24% YTD drop.

Even as more U.S. buyers are purchasing SUVs, BMW's X4, X5 and X6 are all down YTD with the most popular X5's sales getting hammered down 23% YTD.

GermanNut - 9/1/2016 5:18:05 PM

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It is clear BMW's "same-old" exterior design strategy and interiors that fail to match Mercedes-Benz's old-school luxury look and Audi's clean and sleek technology-oriented design are catching up to it.

MDarringer - 9/1/2016 8:15:22 PM

-1 Boost

BMW needs to send the 3 Series back to the drawing boards for a massive styling re-think and to be readying an emergency restyling of the 7 Series.

Mercedes is the one to beat, but Audi is in for a rude awakening if the depiction of the new A8 dashboard is accurate.

GermanNut - 9/1/2016 9:35:48 PM

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"but Audi is in for a rude awakening if the depiction of the new A8 dashboard is accurate."

Yes, because an interior that is easier to use, safer and more technologically advanced is a bad thing that buyers don't want.

valhallakey - 9/2/2016 12:59:44 AM

+1 Boost

Unfortunately it is all about numbers. I think they should scale back a bit and focus on making the sedans "Ultimate Driving Machines" again. Move the SAVs (in BMW speak) to be rally capable in X# M/// guise. My 2 cents...no need to chase Toyota and be the everything to everybody car company. Kinda like Cadillac should back off in chasing the Germans and be Cadillac.

PUGPROUD - 9/2/2016 7:34:20 AM

-1 Boost

Current stewardship of "The Ultimate Driving Machine" has failed its shareholders, employees and its once loyal customer base. BMW has lost its luster, passion and now starting to loose its customer base. If it doesn't turn the ship in the right direction soon it may very well face increasingly harder times. My concern is that current management is inflexible, risk adverse and likely to start discounting cars to save the top line but further diminish brand equity. Time will tell.

MDarringer - 9/2/2016 8:52:27 AM

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I agree 100%. The blind, German fanboys here will not like this, but BMW is rapidly becoming the German Buick to Audi's German Oldsmobile and both have been dusted by Mercedes.

The car bigots here scoff at Genesis, but the reality is that if you drive a Genesis G80 back to back with a comparable 5 Series, you'll be surprised by how good the Genesis is and how lacking is the BMW. The pulse is gone at BMW.

Stale styling. Sale ideas. Numb driving.

GermanNut - 9/2/2016 11:19:24 AM

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I couldn't agree more. I love how MDarringer groups Audi in with BMW when it is clear that Audi's exterior design direction and interior design philosophy couldn't be more different than BMW's.

Audi has said time and again its exteriors are going to be more aggressive and differentiated and it has launched very sleek and modern interiors packed with technology features like Audi Virtual Cockpit and Audi Traffic Jam Assist.

BMW has promised absolutely no change for its exterior designs and its interiors appear to be getting cheaper and lower quality.

BMW will be in HUGE trouble if its new 7-Series is any indication of the upcoming 5-Series and 3-Series. The 3-Series sales are already getting hammered YTD and its best-selling SUV, the X5 is also taking a beating YTD.

cidflekken - 9/2/2016 12:01:43 PM

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Nuttie, I swear you're an Audi fan only to be a BMW basher.

GermanNut - 9/2/2016 5:24:13 PM

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Basher? I simply put BMW's strategic missteps that have caused its dismal sales results in perspective.

Despite selling more models than Audi, BMW maintains a narrow 35,000 unit lead globally over its Ingolstadt-based rival.

BMW's U.S. sales struggles have caused it not only the U.S. sales crown but also the global sales crown. As long as BMW's U.S. sales continue to decline at such a fast rate, it will not be able to catch Mercedes-Benz on a global level and instead will have to worry about staying ahead of Audi.

valhallakey - 9/2/2016 8:01:45 PM

+2 Boost

BMW still has the bones to turn its lineup back towards the "Ultimate Driving Machine". The basics are there with the rear set front engine unlike MB which mounts the engine over the front axle or Audi with its heaviest component mounted over and in front of the front axle. They definitely need to step back to engineering. One of the saddest things they did was go to the stupid U shaped cheapo trunk mounting from the elegant hinges used in the past. Another was the move from driver focused cockpit to a flatter design no longer focused on the driver. Agree they also need to up the styling (4 series grande coupe should have been the standard 3 series) and completely rethink their interior designs.