Deliveries increased again for the BMW Group during November, even with the U.S. and a few other key markets landing in negative territory for the month. A total of 222,462 vehicle sales took during November, an increase of 0.8% over the same period last year. For 2018 through November, the year-to-date delivery total is 2,258,159, up 1.3% compared to 2017. The market remains challenging and volatile according to BMW Group board member Pieter Nota, but the automaker is said to remain focused on profitable growth through the difficult straits, and some positive notes include over 5,000 X5’s sold in the U.S. last month, and over 15,000 vehicles with electrified drivetrains delivered worldwide—a new record.
Speaking of BMW Group Electrified, November deliveries of BMW i, iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles came in at 14,767 units for the entire globe, a double-digit 26.1% increase from the same month of 2017. For 2018 to date, BMW Group Electrified vehicle sales amounted to 125,365, an increase of 39.6% over 2017, but still approximately 15,000 units shy of the goal to sell 140,000 during 2018. Five full model years after being brought to market, the i3 continues to card sales growth, with an increase of 17% resulting from 3,468 fully-electric versions moved during November. Other models are selling strongly as well, with electrified types of the MINI Countryman, 2 Series Active Tourer and Chinese X1 accounting for 10% of overall model or platform sales. Elsewhere, every fifth G30 5 Series sold around the world has a hybrid drivetrain, and in the latest press release, BMW remains adamant in its ability to sell 140,000 electrified vehicles during the year, while reaffirming the lifetime goal of over 500,000 for the end of 2019.
BMW brand sales on their own landed in positive territory for November and on a year-to-date scale, with 189,281 vehicles sold during the month, or growth of 1.6%, and 1,926,631 for the year, or 1.8% more than the same eleven-month period of 2017. This year, 2018, has been referred to as the Year of X, and as of this writing, over 59,000 X2’s have been delivered. Sales of the X3, which was introduced in its third generation roughly a year ago, nearly doubled during November, with 22,547 taken home by customers, which equates to growth of 96.9%. The all-new fourth-generation X5, which hit the market partway through last month, is also off to a strong start; 13,000 of the model (both outgoing and incoming generations) were sold last month, with 5,000 deliveries in its strongest market alone, the U.S. The X7 was officially debuted at the LA Auto Show last month, and pre-orders are said to be outstripping expectations.
MINI sales continue to come in slightly lower than last year’s impressive results. 32,745 units were sold during November, or 3.7% fewer than last year. Looking at things on a year-to-date term, MINI deliveries also show a decrease of 1.8%, resulting from 328,099 sold. The MINI Countryman is the most popular model, with sales expanding 2.1% with 9,530 delivered in November.
Breaking things down by region, most of the globe reported positive sales, but a few key markets were negative. Chief among them was the U.S., which reported a decline of 0.6% as far as BMW Group sales were concerned resulting from 31,858 units delivered, even though brand sales had increased. The other laggard was the U.K., which posted a reduction in sales of 0.6% coming from unit deliveries of 17,805. Europe was still positive as a whole though, with 96,345 deliveries translating to 0.1% growth, which was helped along by Germany which reported a 12.6% increase from 29,340 vehicle sales. For 2018, Europe has witnessed 1,000,086 deliveries, or an increase of 0.2%. Germany is up 2.6% year-to-date from 289,393 deliveries, while The U.K. is down 1.8%, with 216,129. Asia is positive almost across the board with 80,078 deliveries taking place there during November, an expansion of 2.2%, while 790,112 have occurred during 2018, or 2.7% more than last year. China is naturally leading things, thanks to 60,990 unit sales in November, growth of 10.3%, while year-to-date deliveries total 577,058, up 6.4%. Japan recorded an 8% gain from 7,381 sales during November, but the country is still down 2.5% for the year, with 69,337 vehicles sold. Even with the U.S. posting a decline on a group basis for the month, deliveries are up 1.2% for the year from 317,544 having been completed. Latin America posted a gain of 6% from 4,853 deliveries, and the year-to-date figure there is 49,751 which translates to growth just below the triple-digit threshold of 9.9%. The Americas remain positive all together, with 41,022 vehicle sales equating to a 0.3% expansion. The picture is a little better for 2018 to date, thanks to 411,149 deliveries resulting in growth of 2.3%.
BMW Motorrad is really starting to turn things around after a rather flat year. 12,336 units were delivered in November, which is 2.3% more than last year, but for the eleven months of data we have for 2018, sales are still down slightly at 0.1%, from 152,181 unit sales.—Alex Tock
[Photos courtesy BMW AG.]