[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW USA reports January 2015 sales

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BMW Group U.S. Reports January 2015 Sales

February 3, 2015

BMW brand sales up 4.0 percent
MINI brand sales up 26.9 percent
BMW Motorcycle sales up 11.8 percent

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – February 3, 2015… Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 4.0 percent in January for a total of 18,981 compared to 18,253 vehicles sold in January, 2014.

“Coming after a record December and a record 2014 year-end result, the January numbers are a solid start for the new year and I am confident the trend will accelerate in the months ahead,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “I am especially pleased that MINI is again showing its strength as availability of its new models improves.”

To see and hear more of Ludwig Willisch's perspective on the January sales, click here.

In January, notable vehicles sales included the BMW 3 and 4 series which increased 13.2 percent to 7,348 vehicles, the BMW 7 series increased 10.8 percent to 637 vehicles and the BMW X5 increased 16.7 percent to 3,214 vehicles.

BMW Group Sales

The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported January sales of 22,209 vehicles, an increase of 6.8 percent from the 20,796 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago.

BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles

In January, sales of BMW used vehicles (including certified pre-owned) increased slightly, by 3.0 percent, to 14,564 vehicles compared to the 14,143 vehicles sold in January, 2014.

MINI Brand Sales

For January, MINI USA reports 3,228 automobiles sold, an increase of 26.9 percent from the 2,543 sold in the same month a year ago.

MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles

In January, MINI used automobiles (including MINI NEXT certified pre-owned) reported sales of 1,824 automobiles, a decrease of 3.0 percent from the 1,881 sold in January, 2014.

[Maz335i]

Nice!

[alphapunk2]

i'm sure it will continue to go up with all the LCI hypes

[Diver]

Anyone know why Mini was up so much? Perhaps January 2014 was a bad month.

[Z4dlinniy]

Originally Posted by Diver

Anyone know why Mini was up so much? Perhaps January 2014 was a bad month.

last January MINI sales were poor with old models range, in the second half of 2014 year with launch of new model, MINI gain attention of the audience back.

[EzequielR]

Holy crap! BMW is doing well.

[wdeerfield]

seems the price hikes are not affecting them too too much.

glad to see mini on the rebound with the new model. Big fan of the countryman. Saw one with a ski box at the Burton Festival at Stratton and it looked good. Curious if the x1 will look bigger than that.

[E90M3JETS]

Originally Posted by EzequielR

Holy crap! BMW is doing well.

I heard Audi was up +15% vs PY with more than 11k cars sold. The big 3 were also up more than 10% each. From this perspective BMW is underperforming.

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by E90M3JETS

I heard Audi was up +15% vs PY with more than 11k cars sold. The big 3 were also up more than 10% each. From this perspective BMW is underperforming.

I'd imagine most of that is driven by A3 sales.

BMW needs something to compete with this new level of entry level luxury. I know they're working on a 1 Series for the US that will be FWD/AWD to compete with the CLA and the A3 but they're a bit late to the party.

[300hp]

Originally Posted by E90M3JETS

I heard Audi was up +15% vs PY with more than 11k cars sold. The big 3 were also up more than 10% each. From this perspective BMW is underperforming.

It helps to get the detail behind the sales for Audi. For example none of their cars/SUVs sold more than 3,000 units. Bmw sells just over 3,000 units of X5s. Audis bread winners now are the A3 and the Q5 at around 2,700 units. The A4 sales dropped 25% from last Jan.

The headline numbers for Audi may look great but the detail, not so much. I wonder if BMW worries about the Audi numbers when they are selling more 3/4/5 ers (13k) as Audi sells their entire product range (11k)

[autopal]

These numbers are not great, relative to the competition. Mercedes sold over 3600 more cars than BMW in January, and they are up 9%. Even Lexus blew away BMW in January, beating them by more than 4000 units sold. With the percentage increase in the luxury sector, this is a terrible month for BMW

[EzequielR]

Originally Posted by E90M3JETS

I heard Audi was up +15% vs PY with more than 11k cars sold. The big 3 were also up more than 10% each. From this perspective BMW is underperforming.

I did not know that. Quite interesting actually... Everyone's broke but everyone's buying a car... At least that's how it seems.

[300hp]

Originally Posted by autopal

These numbers are not great, relative to the competition. Mercedes sold over 3600 more cars than BMW in January, and they are up 9%. Even Lexus blew away BMW in January, beating them by more than 4000 units sold. With the percentage increase in the luxury sector, this is a terrible month for BMW

Helps to look at the detail too. On a product by product basis BMW and Merc are close enough. Where BMW gets slaughtered is the lack of a GL competitor (2,000 units), the S Class (another 1,000 units over the 7er) and the A class (around 2,000 units over the 2er)


I honestly don't believe that BMW can do anything about the GL, even if the X7 comes along. That race will just end the same way as the 7er vs S class. The GL is just a great product for its target audience. Mercedes sold as many GLs as Audi sold A4s in Jan, that's pretty good if you ask me.

Merc and BMW will keep this dance going for the rest of the year but let's not get excited until the final results are tallied as the race will be close.

[Alfisti]

Remember the new A4 will debut soon, Audi numbers will sky rocket.

[Oaktree]

BMW really screwed up by not building an X7 earlier. What trend didn't they see? The massive amounts of Denali's and Escalades being sold for $60-$80k? US love of SUV's? General disregard to fuel economy? Rant over, I want my X7.

I'm guessing by now most 2014 models are gone (except the i3) so this is a true barometer of the price hikes. I don't remember December being ahead of the competition either. Like others have said, LCI's could spur some life. CLA not coming to the US will hurt volume but better for brand image imo.

[N & M]

This article can be better measured when benchmarked against the performance of rivals, particularly Mercedes and Lexus that have shown growth in the same period.

And no, I am not a BMW hater.

[Lucky13]

One month is so meaningless that if you ran a company and told your boss how great it was you would probably get your ass fired. If you actually looked at the market GM, Ford and Fiat were all totally driven by trucks and SUV's. BMW SUV's were down for the month which could easily be attributed to inventory. Yes I've run a $150M company and to judge based on even 2-3 months doesn't mean much without looking at inventory, new product introductions and many other factors. The X1 is being replaced this year but locally my dealer has virtually no SUV's in stock and that's what's selling in the US. I'm not sure they can crank out any more X3, X4, X5 and X6 until the factory gets expanded which is happening. The factory making X1 and the 2 series makes i3 and they were maxed out in 2014 so 2 series was on allocation so without data a month or two doesn't mean much. They had a couple bad months last year but bounced back nicely.

[mkoesel]

Gotta believe the new four-door hatchback is contributing to Mini's sales upswing.

And I agree with fecurtis, BMW needs an A3/CLA competitor like 12 months ago. The F2x 1 Series just underwent it's LCI; I certainly hope they don't plan on holding off the introduction of the 1 Series sedan until the F2x replacement is set to debut. That's way too far out. They need that sedan right now. Perhaps it will be the next UKL BMW to hit the scene after the X1 and Active Tourer.

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by 300hp

Helps to look at the detail too. On a product by product basis BMW and Merc are close enough. Where BMW gets slaughtered is the lack of a GL competitor (2,000 units), the S Class (another 1,000 units over the 7er) and the A class (around 2,000 units over the 2er)


I honestly don't believe that BMW can do anything about the GL, even if the X7 comes along. That race will just end the same way as the 7er vs S class. The GL is just a great product for its target audience. Mercedes sold as many GLs as Audi sold A4s in Jan, that's pretty good if you ask me.

The S-Class typically outsells the 7-series by about 10% YTD - that's about 1,000 cars for the entire year, which is not much in terms of the entire yearly race. The exception of course was last year when the new S class was out against the end of life 7-series, where the S crushed the 7-series to the tune of 15,523 additional sales. The new 7-series should put the number back in-line.

With regards to the X7 not competing, I just don't know how you can predict this. If in fact it does mirror the s-class vs 7 of previous years, then it will mean MB gains only 1,000 YTD sales, not the additional 26K they have now thanks to the GL.

[Bosozoku]

Biggest BMW percentage gain: 2 Series (+400%)
Biggest BMW percentage loss: X1 (-61%)

Biggest Mini percentage gain: Cooper /S Hardtop (+161%)
Biggest Mini percentage loss: Cooper /S Clubman (-99.5%, only 1 sold all year)

And the Z4 continues its death spiral with -43%.

Breakdown of sales data over at Bimmerfile:

[vonmayr]

Originally Posted by Bosozoku

Biggest BMW percentage gain: 2 Series (+400%)
Biggest BMW percentage loss: X1 (-61%)

Biggest Mini percentage gain: Cooper /S Hardtop (+161%)
Biggest Mini percentage loss: Cooper /S Clubman (-99.5%, only 1 sold all year)

And the Z4 continues its death spiral with -43%.

Breakdown of sales data over at Bimmerpost:

NINETYFOUR Z4's? Whoa. Any word on whether BMW is going to introduce something new here or abandon the market?

[300hp]

Originally Posted by doug_999

The S-Class typically outsells the 7-series by about 10% YTD - that's about 1,000 cars for the entire year, which is not much in terms of the entire yearly race. The exception of course was last year when the new S class was out against the end of life 7-series, where the S crushed the 7-series to the tune of 15,523 additional sales. The new 7-series should put the number back in-line.

With regards to the X7 not competing, I just don't know how you can predict this. If in fact it does mirror the s-class vs 7 of previous years, then it will mean MB gains only 1,000 YTD sales, not the additional 26K they have now thanks to the GL.

It will compete but it will not outsell the GL, in the same way as the S beats the 7.

You are right the introduction of the X7 will tighten the race a lot further