[530iDriver]

Stagnant salaries plus increasing cost of living do not quite commensurate to an environment where consumers have sufficient disposable income to make these kind of purchases.

These new cars are out of league for the vast majority of people.

[Laki021]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

Stagnant salaries plus increasing cost of living do not quite commensurate to an environment where consumers have sufficient disposable income to make these kind of purchases.

These new cars are out of league for the vast majority of people.

Are we reading the same news?
Sales are UP 2%!

Excluding the X1 from the statistics, due to the delivery issues, sales are up more than 10% YoY.

This is a remarkable result.

[MADBMWX5MC]

Yup, I contributed to that May X3 purchase

[billnchristy]

Originally Posted by chassis

Auto industry is pulling back, the data is consistent with a slowdown.

I keep hearing that but they keep increasing orders. GM, Ford, BMW, Toyota, and Mercedes have all increased parts orders significantly and many are talking about not taking the July shutdown either.

[Sedan_Clan]

I am curious to see how well this new 3/4 sells over the long term relative to the F-Series.

[chassis]

YTD sales are down 2%. Monthly sales figures are meaningless; part of the noise. The auto industry is expecting a pullback after several years of above trend sales and decreasing vehicles:drivers social behavior partly due to population shift to cities and the increase of rise sharing, Uber, Lyft, etc. No one is saying the pullback is a depression or recession. Just a drop back to regroup and gather fresh steam to accelerate in 2022 or 2023.

[City_Blue]

Sales are DOWN, not up (YTD, 2019 vs 2018). Their press office spin compared May to May, but the more meaningful numbers are YTD.

Originally Posted by Laki021

Are we reading the same news?
Sales are UP 2%!

Excluding the X1 from the statistics, due to the delivery issues, sales are up more than 10% YoY.

This is a remarkable result.

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by Laki021

Are we reading the same news?
Sales are UP 2%!

Excluding the X1 from the statistics, due to the delivery issues, sales are up more than 10% YoY.

This is a remarkable result.

Nope, surely YTD sales are down?

[mkoesel]

The sales figures are very clear.

Both YTD and monthly sales are up for the BMW brand, while both YTD and month sales are down for BMW NA LLC (which comprises the BMW and MINI brands).

The MINI brand has been in free fall in North America for years. Worldwide sales may be more stable. The novelty of small, premium priced hatchbacks has largely warn off in the US, leaving MINI and their hatch-heavy lineup vulnerable. It would appear that BMW needs to determine soon whether the brand will be viable in the US longer term. A quicker (quicker than the BMW brand, I mean) transition to a pure electric lineup may be in their sites, and such a move might be seen as a chance for a sales revival. If not, I can't imagine the brand will be sold here past the middle of the coming decade.

[530iDriver]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

The MINI brand has been in free fall in North America for years.

And the free fall of MINI is much of their own creating. The hubris is strong with that one.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by heavyD^2

Americans are foregoing compact cars for CUV's. I suppose the Countryman is a CUV but the price is so high that you have to really want a Mini to justify paying that over a larger, more substantial SUV.

The Countryman definitely slots into the compact SUV/crossover segment, but a single model isn’t able to support the whole brand. Furthermore, the modern MINI ethos was minimalist transportation with some style and zip. Trying to bring an SUV into the fold without alienating the core customer was always going to be a tap dance on a tightrope. The Countryman is the krypton to the original target MINI demographic (and for some of them, perhaps soiled the brand) while also being increasingly invisible behind a lineup compact hatchbacks that are no longer cool.

[heavyD^2]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

And the free fall of MINI is much of their own creating. The hubris is strong with that one.

Well Dodge stopped selling the Dart, Chevy the Cruze, and Ford is no longer bringing the Focus to North America. Americans are foregoing compact cars for CUV's. I suppose the Countryman is a CUV but the price is so high that you have to really want a Mini to justify paying that over a larger, more substantial SUV.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

And the free fall of MINI is much of their own creating. The hubris is strong with that one.

+1

Hubris comes easy... when you are getting paid for it..

[The0pportunist]

Originally Posted by F30ZHP

Is this a joke?

Show me a better bottom in the current X lineup!

[heavyD^2]

I don't mind the X4 styling but I'm kind of surprised how little BMW sells in relation to the X3 but then again it's hard to justify the higher price for essentially the same SUV with less utility in the name of styling.