BMW reported, back in August, selling 21,297 vehicles in July in the US, 1,986 more than archrival Mercedes-Benz, with the 7-Series accounting for 1,696 of those sales.
The exact same model, the 7-Series, only managed 539 sales a month earlier in June though, and a 1157 increase in sales in just one month seems a bit odd, but The Wall Street Journal has a simple explanation for the sudden upsurge.
On July 31 and just one day before companies were to report their sales figures, BMW offered heavy discounts ranging between 2500 US dollars on the 528i to 7000 US dollars on the 7-Series with the condition that the dealers reported the cars as being sold that exact day. Hundreds of cars that were “sold” are currently at BMW’s dealerships and are still up for sale, the Journal wrote.
Kenn Sparks, BMW spokesman, said that July’s figures were helped by demo cars sales (used for test drives), but refused to mention just how many demo cars were sold.