The numbers are in, and they’re looking exceptional. At the beginning of the year, BMW sales director announced the core brand was able to sell more than 2.2 million cars in 2021, and now we have the exact number – 2,213,795 units. It represents an increase of 9.1% compared to the year before and confirms BMW’s status as the leader in the luxury car segment. In this interval, Mercedes (together with Smart) sold 2,093,476 units while Audi delivered 1,680,512 vehicles.
BMW’s highest-ever sales figures wouldn’t have been possible without a massive surge in EV sales. Demand for zero-emission vehicles grew by 133.2 percent to 103,855 purely electric cars, and we already know the goal for 2022 is for sales to surpass 200,000 units. It seems doable as the Bavarians will be expanding their workforce to boost production of the i4 and iX in order to clear the rising backlog of orders.
The M division also played an important role in the unprecedented sales growth achieved by the BMW core brand in 2021 thanks to a jump of 13.4% to 163,542 performance vehicles. Naturally, the latest M3 and M4 were quite popular, much like the X5 M and X6 M. In addition, M Performance cars such as the M440i, X3 M40i, and X7 M50i were also a hot commodity.
Elsewhere, MINI shipped 3.3% more cars to its customers in 2021 to achieve a grand total of 302,144 units. Approximately 17% of them were either hybrids or EVs. Speaking of which, the Cooper S E found 34,851 new homes in the past year to achieve a huge growth of 98.2%.
As for Rolls-Royce, the ultra-luxury brand based in Goodwood also had its best year ever by selling 5,586 cars or 48.7% more than in 2020.
BMW Motorrad sold no fewer than 194,261 units in 2021, representing a substantial increase of 14.8%.
[Source: BMW Group]
4th Quarter 2021 | Compared with previous year % | YTD December 2021 | Compared with previous year % | |
BMW Group Automotive | 589,301 | -14.2% | 2,521,525 | +8.4% |
BMW | 510,727 | -15.1% | 2,213,795 | +9.1% |
– BMW M GmbH | 40,540 | -7.0% | 163,542 | +13.4% |
MINI | 77,306 | -8.5% | 302,144 | +3.3% |
BMW Group electrified* | 96,741 | +26.9% | 328,316 | +70.4% |
Rolls-Royce | 1,268 | +14.8% | 5,586 | +48.7% |
BMW Motorrad | 37,652 | -5.1% | 194,261 | +14.8% |
*BEV and PHEV
BMW & MINI sales in the regions/markets
4th Quarter 2021 | Compared with previous year % | YTD December 2021 | Compared with previous year % | |
Europe | 223,167 | -15.8% | 948,087 | +3.9% |
| 62,745 | -26.4% | 267,917 | -6.8% |
Asia | 232,222 | -17.1% | 1,065,141 | +8.2% |
| 176,600 | -18.9% | 846,237 | +8.9% |
Americas | 120,838 | -5.2% | 450,062 | +18.9% |
| 100,891 | -6.0% | 366,574 | +19.5% |
*Provisional registration figures