January 2018 BMW sales picked up where they left off at the end of 2017—on a positive note. Starting the year off right, BMW of North America dealers delivered 19,016 BMWs, up from 18,109 in January 2017. That’s a 5.0 percent increase. Coming out of 2017’s premium car slump in the U.S., it’s good news.
For the seventh month in a row, the new BMW 5 Series demonstrated strength and staying power, with 2,456 deliveries. Surprisingly—or perhaps not surprisingly given BMW’s emphasis on electromobility—almost 10 percent of the new 5 Series sold were the plug-in hybrid 530e iPerformance variety.
In total, 1,145 BMR Group electrified vehicles sold in January, comprising 5.4 percent of all BMW Group vehicles sold in the U.S. Electrified BMW products currently available in the U.S. include four varieties of the i3 (i3, i3s, i3 with Range Extender, and i3s with Range Extender); the BMW i8 Coupe; four BMW iPerformance models: BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e, and BMW X5 xDrive 40e; and the MINI Countryman S E ALL4.
The new BMW X3 that hit dealer showrooms last November is filling the role that BMW hoped for with 2,954 units moved in January.
“Our newest products continue to be very well received by consumers, which has helped us carry the momentum that we created in 2017 into 2018 and given us a great start to the New Year,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “We have many new products to launch in 2018, starting with the first-ever, and much anticipated BMW X2, which will begin appearing on showroom floors later this month for its sales debut in early March.”
MINI still has catching up to do, however. Deliveries of 2,937 MINIs in January represented a 5.6 percent drop from last year.
Total January BMW Group U.S. sales, which include both BMW and MINI, came to 21,953 vehicles, up 3.5 percent from the 21,219 vehicles moved in January 2017.
Now that new BMWs seem to be moving better, sales of pre-owned BMWs seem to be falling off a bit. Certified Pre-owned BMW sales of 9,113 vehicles represented a drop of 10.7 percent from January a year ago, while total BMW pre-owned deliveries of 16,970 units constituted a 6.9 percent downturn.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
