BMW Keeps It's Head Above Water After Sales Inch Upwards 1.0% In March

Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 1 percent in March 2018 for a total of 31,311­­ compared to 31,015 vehicles sold in March 2017.  Through Q1 2018, BMW brand sales are up 3.0 percent year-over-year.

BMW brand sales in March 2018 were once again led by BMW’s lineup of Sports Activity Vehicles and the BMW 5 Series, which has shown strong growth for nine straight months.
 

“It’s Spring and thoughts naturally turn to new cars with March giving us another uptick in sales – five months in a row – as the 5 Series continues to defy conventional thinking and proves there’s still a place in the market for a great sedan,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, President and CEO, BMW of North America.  “At the same time, our X model lineup is expanding with the X2 now fully in the marketplace and Sports Activity Vehicles nearing 50% of our sales.”

MINI Brand Sales

For March, MINI USA reported 4,531 vehicles sold, a decrease of 9.1 percent from the 4,987 sold in the same month a year ago.

BMW Group Sales

In total, BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported March 2018 sales of 35,842 vehicles, a decrease of 0.4 percent from the 36,002 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago.

BMW Group Electrified Vehicle Sales

BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) sales of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles totaled 2,662 in March 2018, an increase of 71.1 percent from the 1,556 sold in the same month a year ago.  BMW Group electrified vehicles accounted for 7.4 percent of U.S. sales in March 2018.

BMW Group currently offers seven electrified models in the U.S., including the BMW i3, BMW i8, BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e BMW X5 xDrive 40e and MINI Countryman plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle.

GermanNut - 4/3/2018 1:45:48 PM

+1 Boost

The model sales breakdown can be found here:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403006295/en/BMW-Group-U.S.-Reports-March-2018-Sales

This indicates continued difficulties for BMW in the U.S. market. The 3-Series sales continue to tumble. The 4-Series is down 14.1% YTD. The 7-Series sales continue to fall as well down 14.4% YTD.

Despite SUVs taking increasing market share from sedans, BMW's SUV sales fell 13.4% for the month and are down 6.3% YTD. The old X3 is down 20.5% YTD. Surprisingly the X5 is flat too YTD.

When the X2 arrives, I expect it will cannibalize sales from the X1 and X3.

ilovecar2015 - 4/3/2018 1:56:05 PM

+6 Boost

X2 sold 957 in March, probably due to lack of availability. But yes X1 is too vanilla (unless you want practicality), and X3 is too expensive for what it is.

scenicbyway12 - 4/3/2018 6:41:35 PM

+4 Boost

As opposed to Audi who did not have a single car line in positive numbers, they were only saved by their crossovers, mostly by the Q5. The majority of BMW lines finished in the positive, so I don't think BMW should throw in the towel yet.

cidflekken - 4/3/2018 7:49:16 PM

+6 Boost

Actually, Audi was saved by its A5 Sportback, primarily. Otherwise, they would have been pretty significantly in the red. Take the A5 out of the equation, for this and last year, and the rest of Audi's lineup would have been 3% in the deficit.

GermanNut - 4/3/2018 8:40:11 PM

-1 Boost

The A5 Sportback provided the big sales increase Audi needed. Audi should be expected to be saved by its crossovers - crossovers are stealing marketshare from sedans after all. Audi's sedan lineup is quite old with the new A8, A7 and A6 models all revealed but yet to go on sale in the U.S. market.

PUGPROUD - 4/3/2018 4:49:40 PM

+1 Boost

All is not lost. BMW at the very start of revamping its entire line over the next couple years...new 3, new X5, new 8, etc plus multiple M options.

bw5011 - 4/3/2018 5:48:49 PM

+5 Boost

The M option doesn't mean anything now, sort of like the AMG option. I don't know why they want to flood all their cars with badges that takes away from the very respectable cars that M and AMG has put out for years.

cidflekken - 4/3/2018 7:50:12 PM

+3 Boost

BMW made up about 3K units on Mercedes this month (sold 28407 units in March). Mercedes possibly impacted by the transition of the C-Class to the newly refreshed model coming soon.

GermanNut - 4/3/2018 8:44:52 PM

+2 Boost

Mercedes-Benz was definitely impacted by the refreshed C-Class. The C-Class sales fell 37.9% for March. However, Mercedes-Benz still has a 4,639 unit lead on BMW YTD. I don't believe BMW will be able to close the gap with Mercedes-Benz anytime soon. Once the new C-Class arrives, I think we'll see Mercedes-Benz's numbers rise strongly.

hangtime010 - 4/4/2018 9:43:16 AM

+1 Boost

It's a testament to the 3 German brands that they're still selling in the numbers that they are in this economy.
To say that the A5 Sportback saved Audi is a little short-sighted. We don't know what the figures for the A4 would've been if the Sportback wasn't available. As many have said, and IMO I think it's highly likely, sales went from A4 to the A5 SB.
BMW will need to strengthen their CUV/SUV lineup to keep pace. After all, this has been the hottest segment for some time and there's no decline in sight yet.