BMW brand sales in the U.S. grew 9.4% year-over-year in October, from 23,262 to 25,440. Year-to-date, the BMW brand up 3.8% in the U.S., with deliveries having advanced from 248,327 to 257,867. The BMW brand is also carrying total BMW North America sales, which are up 7.5% year-over-year from 26,428 to 28,408, and 1.0% year-to-date, from 285,686 to 288,582, as MINI sales once again acted as a drag, decreasing 6.5% year-over-year from 3,166 deliveries to 2,962. MINI is down 17.8% for the year, with delivery volume having shrunk from 37,359 to 30,715, a breathtaking loss for a small brand.
It is BMW’s X-models that are pushing U.S. brand sales growth forward with seemingly increased velocity. As expected, BMW sold more X3s than any other model during October, and sales grew 7% from 5,564 to 5,952. X3 sales took a slight breather in September, but the entry-level SAV is still up 18.3% year-to-date with deliveries having expanded from 47,398 to 56,072. The X5 is selling in strong numbers as well. Deliveries grew from 1,379 to 4,444 year-over-year, a staggering 222.3% gain, but that figure is a bit skewed as third-gen X5 sales were winding down this time last year. For this year, The X5 is up 27.6%, thanks to sales growing from 32,499 to 41,479 though, ranking it just behind the X3 in terms of popularity. The X7 has also shown that it means business, and is moving in strong volume. BMW sold 2,047 of its largest model ever in October, while the year-to-date total is 15,801. Virtually all of BMW’s conventional passenger car models saw sales decrease in October, with the exception of the 3 Series, which edged forward 0.5% from 3,445 to 3,465. The 3 Series remains down 4.9% year-to-date, with sales having slid from 38,176 to 36,299 in the midst of the G20 rollout earlier this year.
Total BMW pre-owned sales expanded 18.3% from 18,628 to 22,033 in October, and are also positive for the year with 1.6% growth coming from 208,210 deliveries eclipsing the 205,009 that had occurred during the same period of last year. BMW CPO sales also grew 12.3% year-over-year from 9,072 to 10,185, but remain down 7.2% for the year with volume having decreased from 104,923 to 97,405. MINI was once again down across the board in the pre-owned market. Total MINI preowned sales in October came to 2,154 units, a decrease of 6.5% from the 2,304 sold last year. The story is similar year-to-date, with sales down 7.9% from 27,208 to 25,052. On The MINI CPO side, the things are also largely mirrored. MINI CPO deliveries came to 877 in October, a decrease of 10.8% from 983, while CPO sale are also down 7% year-to-date, from 11,580 to 10,766.—Alex Tock
[Photos courtesy BMW AG.]
