Group hails rising demand

BMW Group New Zealand is celebrating a 4.2 per cent increase in vehicle registrations during the first half of 2023, when compared with the same period a year ago.

The BMW brand finished the January to June period with 908 registrations across all powertrains, representing a 2.7 per cent year-on-year climb, while Mini’s 458 units was up by 7.3 per cent.

Fully electric vehicles helped lead the surge and the number of BMW and Mini models in that category jumped by 8.3 per cent following sales of 205 and 108 units respectively.

Models boosting the BMW brand’s figures, which alone were up by 13 per cent, included the i4 eDrive40 and i4 M50 xDrive.

Volume highlights for the main model lines of the marque centred on the 4 Series, X5 and X7, with all three recording double-digit percentage uplifts in registrations.

BMW M also continues to prosper in the local market and its models accounted for more than 28 per cent of BMW vehicles registered during the first six months of this year.

It makes New Zealand the best-performing market worldwide for registrations of performance and high-performance cars in the overall sales mix.

Top performers for the Mini brand in the first half of 2023 included the fully electric Electric Hatch and the Countryman Hybrid as registrations increased by 113 per cent and 17.7 per cent respectively.

Adam Shaver, pictured, managing director of BMW Group NZ, says the results can partly be attributed to the company’s strategic company direction that “balances future mobility with customer-centric solutions”.

“However, none of the impressive sales results could occur without the support of our retail network and we are fortunate to work with 10 dealer partners across New Zealand that support our strategy while also striving to provide an outstanding experience for all our valued customer,” he adds.