The BMW Group has sold more vehicles than ever before in the first five months of the year: more than a million customers worldwide have already taken delivery of their new BMW, MINI or Rolls-Royce vehicle in 2018 (1,003,573 / +1.6%). This record result was achieved despite the ongoing global ramp-up of BMW X3 production and volatility in China due to changes in import duties. These factors contributed to a slight decrease in in the company’s monthly sales in May.
Five years after its initial launch, customer demand for the BMW i models continues to grow at such a rate that production in Plant Leipzig will be increased by over 50% this autumn, to 200 cars a day. In the first five months of the year, sales of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles jumped 41.0% to total 46,849.
The growing trend towards electrification continues globally, with several significant markets reporting especially strong development. For example, electrified vehicles accounted for nearly 7% of all BMW and MINI models sold in the USA in the first five months of the year (9,762 / +61.0%) and more than 7% of BMW and MINI sales in the UK (6,555 / +34.2%). In some markets, electrified vehicles already account for more than half of all BMW and MINI sales. Examples here are Norway (4,125 / +5.8%) and Malaysia (2,313 / +37.9%). The BMW Group remains well on target to achieve its stated aim of selling over 140,000 electrified vehicles in 2018.
Sales of BMW X vehicles in the first five months of the year totaled 303,202 units (+3.4%) and accounted for 35.3% of all BMW brand sales. The brand has delivered 858,675 (+1.6%) vehicles to customers this year, with models such as the BMW 1 Series (82,828 / +11.6%) and the BMW 5 Series (156,105 / +12.5%) contributing to that growth. In the first five months of the year, global MINI brand sales increased by 1.2% (143,472).
The changeover of all relevant BMW Group vehicles to the new European WLTP and RDE testing standards is proceeding according to plan, thanks to a timely focus on the issue.
While sales in the Americas achieved good growth in the year-to-date and in May, several other markets are more volatile. The ongoing headwinds in the UK market continue to affect sales there and the upcoming change in import duties in China has led to some short-term uncertainty due to the expected impact on pricing in that market overall. Meanwhile in Germany, several bank holidays in May meant there were two working days fewer than in the same month last year.