BMW on track for ‘ambitious’ sales goals
BMW Group has achieved a new high for first quarter sales after demand grew for all its brands, including BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce.
The company sold 636,606 vehicles between January and March 2021, up 33.5 per cent from the same period a year ago as sales climbed in all its major markets worldwide.
Pieter Nota, a member of BMW AG’s board of management, says the new sales record underlines its “ambitious” growth targets for the year.
“Our sales performance was boosted by strong demand for our electrified vehicles, in particular,” he notes.
“In the past three months, we doubled our global sales of electrified vehicles compared to the same period last year.
“This puts us on track to deliver more than 100,000 fully-electric vehicles [EVs] this year, with at least a million electrified vehicles on the roads in total by the end of this year.”
The BMW marque delivered 560,543 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 36.2 per cent from January-March 2020.
Leading the sales charge were its X models, which climbed 36.5 per cent to 246,068 units over the same period.
Meanwhile, its BMW 5 Series and BMW 3 Series had increases of 43 per cent and 43.6 per cent respectively.
It also sold 70,207 EVs, which was more than double its global sales of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and fully-electric vehicles.
Between now and 2025, the BMW Group plans to increase its sales of fully-electric models by an average of more than 50 per cent per year.
It also plans for fully-electric vehicles to account for at least half of its global sales in 2030. The Mini brand is likely to reach this milestone in 2027.
On the rise
Mini lifted its sales figures in all regions and sold 74,683 units in the first quarter for a 16.2 per cent year-on-year increase.
The Mini Countryman was up 36 per cent, Mini three-door sales climbed 23.4 per cent, and an extra 19.1 per cent more John Cooper Works models were sold than in the previous year.
EVs accounted for 15 per cent of total Mini sales in the first quarter – double the figure for the previous year.
Rolls-Royce notched its own record as first-quarter sales surged 61.8 per cent to 1,380 cars.
Sales growth was seen in all markets, with the strongest demand in China, the US and Asia-Pacific.
The luxury marque’s new Ghost and the Cullinan were in the highest demand and the company says order books are extending well into the second half of 2021.
Elsewhere, BMW M GmbH sales were up 21 per cent to 37,896 units and BMW Motorrad delivered 42,592 motorcycles and scooters for a climb of 22.5 per cent.
In China, the BMW Group notched its best first quarter and sales in South Korea increased 42.8 per cent year-on-year to 20,321 vehicles.
In the US, sales were up 20.1 per cent to 77,718 BMW and Mini vehicles, while in Europe the group enjoyed 8.3 per cent growth to 238,761 units.
