Deliveries of BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce vehicles totaled 194,889 for the month of April, a 1.2% year-over-year increase. In 2018 thus far, the BMW Group has had total worldwide sales of 799,520 vehicles, which translates to a 2.5% increase over same period during 2017. Beyond solid growth, among the most important thresholds crossed is the 250,000-mark for deliveries of vehicles that use electrified drivetrains, not to mention incredible double-digit growth in this area alone for last month.
Pieter Nota, a member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, has been quoted as saying, “We are delighted to announce that there are now over a quarter of a million electrified BMW Group vehicles on the world’s roads.” Helping things along was strong growth of BMW i, BMW iPerformance, and MINI Electric vehicles, which recorded 9,831 units sold during April, a significant 52% increase.
Those keeping tabs on the specifics will recall that a goal of 140,000 electrified-drivetrain unit deliveries had been set for 2018, which seems to have moved from the highly-likely column to being essentially inevitable at this point, should things continue on their current path.
The U.S. market was responsible for a large portion of electric sales, carding growth of 73.3% with 7,716 vehicles sold. Mainland China blew that figure away, however, thanks to the success of the locally-produced BMW 5 Series PHEV; that market logged 646.7% growth with 3,181 units sold.
Overall, vehicles with electrified drivetrains represented 5% of global BMW Group sales. Currently, electric sales represent 7.3% of the U.S. total, while in mature markets like Scandinavia, the figure is more than half. Top-selling electrified models included the aforementioned 5 Series PHEV. with 711.6% growth at 2,670 units moved, while the X5 PHEV was strong at 45.8%. with 1,578 copies sold. The i3 also proved reliable in this regard, with 2,665 units sold and growth of 18.3%.
Worldwide sales of BMW-brand vehicles were up 1.6% for April with 167,275 sold, which brings the 2018 total to 684,724, logging 2.5% growth compared to 2017. MINI sales were also up 2.8% at 113,704, but the largest MINI market, the UK, saw sales dip 0.9% from last year. Global Motorrad sales for 2018 also receded marginally at 1.1%, but with a total of nine new models slated to debut this year, the decrease almost seems expected, if not warranted.—Alex Tock
[Photos courtesy of BMW Group.]
