BMW Aims To Stay in Front with Sales Pace

Germany’s three main luxury marques (Mercedes, BMW and Audi) are engaged in a feverish sales battle to see who attains world market dominance.

BMW is on pace to have a record sales year worldwide, in spite of a soft European market, because of strong sales in its three top markets: Germany, United States and China. BMW has already eclipsed 2009 sales figures as of November and saw its largest year over year sales increase last month as well.

According to BMW figures, BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce sold 129,014 vehicles in November 2010 compared to 107,718 in November 2009, for a 19.8 percent jump. A total of 1,319,827 vehicles have been delivered in 2010, through November, compaed to 1,162,559 in the same 11 months in 2009 for a 13.5 percent increase.

In its domestic market of Germany, sales volumes for the BMW and MINI brands climbed 29.6 percent in November, with a total of 25,156 new vehicle registrations vs. 19,409 in 2009. In the U.S., sales rose 25.2 percent to 22,883 vehicles (previous year 18,272), making BMW the best-selling premium brand in November. In its third-largest market, China, sales surged 104.3 percent to 17,302 vehicles.

In addition, a number of other key markets across the world also reported positive trends and contributed to the BMW Group’s double-digit sales growth in November, for example: South Korea (+89.8 percent to 1,860 units); South Africa (+32.3 percent to 2,094 units); Japan (+15.4 percent to 3,330 units); and Italy (+13% to 6,410 units). The Korean market increase is significant because South Korea makes it expensive for auto makers to bring cars into the Korean market.

For BMW, the main growth drivers in November were the new BMW 5 Series models and the BMW X family: Sales of the 5 Series Sedan were up 86.9 percent, to 20,702 vehicles, while 5 Series Touring volumes climbed 62.9% to 5,073 units. Deliveries of the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo more than doubled to 2,460 units. The company sold 9,160 BMW X1 vehicles in November, passing the 100,000-unit mark one year after its market launch at the end of October 2009. The BMW X5 continued to expand its segment leadership, as sales rose 17.2 percent to 8,853 vehicles in November. The BMW X6 was able to maintain its high level of sales at 4,018 units (+0.5 percent).

The second generation of the BMW X3, introduced only last month, reported exceptionally strong new orders and a total of 1,062 vehicles were delivered to their new owners in November. The vehicle is slated for launch in the largest X3 market, the U.S., in January 2011.