BMW sold more cars in March than in any other month in history. Record Rolls-Royce sales in first quarter.
The BMW Group sold more vehicles in March than in any other month in its history. The company sold a total of 185.728 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles in the past month, not only significantly exceeding the figure for March of last year (165,846 units / +12%) but also the previous sales high of 165,855 vehicles recorded in June 2011. The company also achieved a new high for the first three months: Retail volumes for the year to the end of March increased by more than 40,000 vehicles to 425,528 units (prev. yr. 382,763 units), which represents a growth of 11.2% compared with the first quarter of 2011. Rolls-Royce continued its success with a record first quarter in sales. For the year to the end of March, the number of Rolls- Royce motor cars delivered climbed 6.5% to 770 (prev. yr. 723) vehicles.
The company plans to grow faster than the market as a whole in 2012 and expects to achieve new sales volume records for its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands.
Growth in March was also driven by the brand’s larger vehicles. Sales of the BMW X5 and X6 models continued to be strong with 9,496 (prev. yr. 7,932 / +19.7%) and 4,261 (prev. yr. 3,971 / +7.3%) vehicles sold respectively.
Sales of the BMW 6 Series increased nearly six fold compared to the same month last year with a total of 2,247 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 405 / +454.8%). The current BMW 7 Series reached a new milestone in March with a total of over 200,000 vehicles sold since its introduction at the end of 2008. This makes it the best performing BMW 7 Series ever, reaching around +20% higher sales than its predecessors in the same period of time. With 6,648 vehicles delivered in March, the flagship model achieved a 14.5% increase in sales (prev. yr. 5,804).
Record first quarters in the U.S. and China; strong March in Germany
The BMW Group increased retail volumes in its three largest single markets of Germany, the U.S. and China, among others. In Germany the company reported a +11.6% increase (30,981 / prev. yr. 27,755) for BMW Group vehicle registrations in March. A total of 66,222 vehicles have been registered year-to-date in Germany, an increase of +2.0% over the first quarter in 2011 (prev. yr. 64,923). Record first quarters in both the U.S. and China contributed to the BMW Group’s outstanding first quarter sales results. In the U.S., sales climbed +13% in March to 29,806 vehicles (prev. yr. 26,382). Year to date, 75,729 vehicles have been delivered in the U.S., an increase of +16.6% over the previous year (64,957). BMW Group sales in China remained high in the month under review – 30,593 (prev. yr. 21,687 /+41.1%) vehicles were delivered. From January to the end of March a total of 80,014 vehicles were delivered, an increase of 36.8% compared with the same period last year (prev. yr. 58,506).
