After a short delay, BMW finally published the sales figures for October and things could’ve looked better. The BMW brand showed a decrease in sales of 3.4 percent compared to the same period of last year, while MINI sales went down 7.2 percent. In total, BMW sold 26,788 units over the last month, not a bad result but still shy of what the brand managed to do in the same month of 2016.
Out of the 26,788 units sold, 23,208 were BMW models while the rest were accounted for by the MINI brand. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is down 4.2 percent in the U.S. on sales of 243,383 vehicles compared to 254,150 sold in the first ten months of 2016. Notable vehicle sales in October include the new BMW 5 Series and BMW 4 Series, which both showed strong gains for the fourth straight month, and the BMW X5. The BMW 5 Series increased 132.3 percent to 3,396 vehicles, while the BMW 4 Series increased 11.5 percent to 3,181 vehicles. The BMW X5 increased 9.5 percent to 4,254 vehicles.
“Both the new 5 Series and 4 Series continued to perform well in October, while X5 numbers were bolstered by increased availability in the market,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “Electrified vehicles also showed strong momentum last month, with nearly 20% of all 5 Series sold as plug-in hybrids. With the launch of the all-new BMW X3 just days away, we have high anticipation for November.”
On the MINI front, for October, sales were reported at 3,669 vehicles, a decrease of 7.2 percent from the 3,954 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a total of 38,456 vehicles sold, a decrease of 10.3 percent from 42,865 vehicles sold in the first ten months of 2016.
There’s great news coming from the hybrid and electric front however. Sales of BMW Group electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increased 20.6 percent to 15,595 through October 2017 (YTD), accounting for 5.5 percent of total BMW Group sales in the U.S. Currently, BMW offers six electrified vehicle models in the U.S., including the BMW i3 and BMW i8, as well as the BMW i Performance models: BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e and the BMW X5 xDrive 40e. MINI offers the MINI Countryman plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle, which launched in June 2017.
