BMW Ends A Downer 2017 On A Positive Note - Down 3.7% For Year

Notable individual vehicles in December included the BMW 5 Series, the BMW X1 and the BMW X5. Sales of the BMW 5 Series increased 124 percent to 4,743 vehicles. The BMW X5 was up nearly 10 percent to 6,847 vehicles while the BMW X1 was up 6.4 percent to 4,454 vehicles.

“Momentum has been building throughout 2017 and the December results have put us in a strong position for the New Year,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “Our BMW models are attracting entirely new customers to our dealerships, especially the BMW 5 Series, X models, and our electrified vehicles. There’s much more to come in 2018 with the next new model – the BMW X2 - premiering at the Detroit Auto Show in less than two weeks.”

MINI Brand Sales

For December, MINI USA reported 4,611 vehicles sold, a decrease of 1.0 percent from the 4,658 sold in the same month a year ago. In 2017 MINI USA reported a total of 47,105 vehicles sold, a decrease of 9.5 percent from the 52,030 vehicles sold in 2016.

BMW Group Sales

In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported December sales of 38,864 vehicles, an increase of 3.7 percent from the 37,493 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. In 2017 BMW Group reported sales of 352,790, a 3.4 percent decrease compared to 365,204 vehicles sold in 2016.

BMW Group Electrified Vehicle Sales

Sales of BMW Group electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increased 31.2 percent in 2017 to 21,208, accounting for 6.0 percent of total BMW Group sales in the U.S. BMW offers six electrified vehicle models in the U.S., including the BMW i3 and BMW i8, as well as the BMW i Performance models: BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e and the BMW X5 xDrive 40e. MINI offers the MINI Countryman plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle.
 

BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles

• In December, BMW Certified Pre-Owned sold 11,589 vehicles, a decrease of 11.5 percent from December 2016.
• Total BMW Pre-Owned sold 21,542 vehicles, a decrease of 11.7 percent from December 2016.
• BMW Certified Pre-Owned cars sold in 2017 were 135,864, a 5.2 percent increase from 2016.
• Total BMW Pre-Owned cars sold in 2017 were 238,586, a 1.6 percent increase from 2016.

MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles

• MINI Certified Pre-Owned sold 846 vehicles in December 2017, a decrease of 16.3 percent from December 2016.
• Total MINI Pre-Owned sold 2,631 vehicles in December 2017, an increase of 0.9 percent from December 2016.
• MINI Certified Pre-Owned cars sold 10,922 in 2017, a 12.2 percent decrease from 2016.
• Total MINI Pre-Owned sales in 2017 were 28,011, a 2.2 percent decrease from 2016

GermanNut - 1/3/2018 4:34:06 PM

-4 Boost

While BMW was up for each of the last two months of 2017 in the U.S., it wasn't enough to prevent a second consecutive year of year-over-year sales declines for the brand. Most problematic for BMW is that its SUVs saw sales declines when overall SUV sales have been increasing. Also troubling is that BMW has seen weakness in both the low-end (3-Series) and high-end (7-Series) of the sedan market and the low-end (X3) and high-end (X6) of the SUV market.

cidflekken - 1/4/2018 12:00:36 AM

+6 Boost

I think naming the 3 Series as a "weakness" is a bit over stated. Combine the 3 and 4 Series sales and it's just about 100K. That's 23K more units than the C-Class. Yes, it's down from the previous year, but it still easily dominates the segment. Nothing was even within spitting distance of it and even the C-Class was far ahead of the 3rd placer which was the combined A4/A5 at 56K units. (and if Mercedes was smart, they'd market the heck out of the GLC-coupe as an alternative to the 4Series GC and A5 Sportback).

hangtime010 - 1/4/2018 9:28:29 AM

+4 Boost

I agree with cidflekken. As much as I hate to say this, and we all know it's true, but it's the shift of buyers towards SUV's, not about the 3 series being a weakness in the lineup.
Over a third of all BMWs sales were SUVs (Audi was more than 50%). This trend will continue and it's up to manufacturers to cater to this or lose sales. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if non-SUV sales only represented 25%-40% of total sales.
I'll still be a sedan/station wagon/hatchback owner, with my 2nd vehicle being an SUV of some sort (and the 3rd an R8/McLaren720/911-if I won the lottery).

PUGPROUD - 1/4/2018 9:58:55 AM

+2 Boost

I've not been happy with the direction BMW has been going in by moving more into mass market segments with softer cabilities and letting others push them aside from their position as the Ultimate Driving Machine. But I'm not giving up on them just yet. The next generation and model updates will be do or die for me in considering them for my next purchase. I've had many 3's and 5's from 1989 till 2002 that were great but none since, though my wife just bought a 6GT. For her purposes its fine, for mine not nearly enough.