BMW managed to increase its sales significantly over the course of the first half of 2021, not just compared to the pandemic-stricken 2020 but also compared to 2019. Sales went up by nearly 40 percent and turned the first six months of this year into the best ever for BMW, beating the record previously set in 2019.
A total of 1,339,047 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles were delivered to customers in the first six months of 2021, up by nearly 40% on the previous year (2020: 962,575 units/ +39.1%) and setting a new Group record for a first half-year period. All major sales regions contributed to the overall growth in sales volume worldwide. The picture was similar in the second quarter, with deliveries to customers up by 44.7% year-on-year to 702,441 units (2020: 485,464 units).
Sustained high demand for the BMW Group’s electrified vehicles also provided strong momentum for growth. Between January and June 2021, 153,243 all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids were delivered to customers (2020: 61,652 units), an increase of 148.6% compared to one year earlier. The high rate of growth in the sale of electrified vehicles gathered even greater momentum in the second quarter, rising by as much as 167.0%. Even so, BMW CEO, Oliver Zipse, is not too optimistic about the remainder of the year, pointing to various problems that may stall production.
“Our performance has benefited from strong customer demand during the first half of the year, enabling us to achieve significant growth. However, in light of a number of prevailing risks, including raw materials prices and a shortage of semiconductors, the second six-month period is likely to be more volatile for the BMW Group,” said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, in Munich on Tuesday.
Asia remains the most important market for BMW, with a total of 580,351 units of the grand total arriving on the world’s largest continent. China accounted for most of them, with a total of 467,956 units being reserved for the communist country, an increase of 42% compared to last year. Europe also grew by 35.4 percent, for a total of 504,834 units delivered over the course of the first half of 2021. Germany accounted for 136,058 units of the grand total.
