BMW & MINI Sales Up for 2007

Official BMW Group Press Release: The BMW Group continued its successful course last year, reaching its best sales levels for all three automobile brands. Worldwide, 1,500,678 vehicles were delivered to customers (prev.yr.: 1,373,970), which corresponds to a 9.2% growth in sales. For the BMW brand, sales reached 1,276,793 vehicles, outstripping the previous year’s level (1,185,088) by 7.7%. MINI also recorded a robust rise – in comparison with the previous year (188,077), the brand increased by 18.5% to 222,875 units sold to customers. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars saw sales in 2007 increase by 25.5%, compared with 2006, with retails of 1010 cars (prev.yr.: 805), taking annual sales into the four-digit range for the first time. This means that sales figures have risen for the fourth time in a row. This result confirms Rolls-Royce as the most desirable brand in the super luxury market.

Stefan Krause, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG for Sales and Marketing: “We have completely reached our sales target for 2007 – growth in the higher single-digit percentage range. Our customers appreciate the fact that, with “BMW EfficientDynamics”, we are already offering a low-consumption, reduced-CO2 package of measures as standard.” EfficientDynamics, development of which was started five years ago, is used in everything from the BMW 1 Series to the BMW X5. In many MINI models, customers also benefit from this innovative technology. By the end of the year, more than 450,000 BMW automobiles with EfficientDynamics were already driving on Europe’s roads. “Overall, the BMW Group is once again the world’s leading supplier in the premium automobile segment in terms of volume sales. We are optimistic that we will reach this top position again in 2008″, Krause continued.

In 2007, the clear front-runner, not only in the BMW model range but also in comparison with its relevant competitors, was the BMW 3 Series, with its saloon, touring, coupé and cabrio versions. 37% of the BMW Group’s total sales came from this model series, which increased again by 9.2% to reach 555,219 units (prev.yr.: 508,479). The BMW 5 Series, which comes in second place in terms of volume, maintained the high levels of last year (232,193/-0.6%), with 230,845 automobiles sold. Third place is taken by the BMW 1 Series, with 165,803 cars delivered to customers (prev.yr.: 151,918). In particular, the three-door variant, also available since May 2007, helped sales to rise by a further 9.1% compared with 2006. The BMW Sports Activity Vehicles (SAV) also continued to sell very successfully in 2007, and the BMW X5 in particular, of which 120,617 units (prev.yr.: 75,321) were sold, increased by a stunning 60.1%. This means that sales of this model, which is way ahead of its relevant competitors in its segment, considerably exceeded expectations. Even in the fourth year after its market launch, the X5′s “little brother”, the BMW X3, stayed at a high level, with 111,879 units sold (prev.yr.: 114,000/-1.9%). Last year, 44,421 BMW 7 Series vehicles were sold (prev.yr.: 50,227/-11.6%). The BMW Z4, with its Roadster and Coupé variants, was delivered to 28,383 (prev.yr.: 30,996/-8.4%) customers. And 19,626 (prev.yr.: 21,947/-10.6%) of the luxury BMW 6 Series Cabrio and Coupé were sold.

Looking at sales by country, the USA continued to be the largest single market for BMW and MINI automobiles in the year 2007. Here, the BMW Group sold 335,840 (prev.yr.: 313,603/+7.1%) vehicles, which is more than ever before. In 2007, BMW was the most popular European premium brand amongst US customers – over 293,795 (prev.yr.: 274,432, +7.1%) Americans chose a BMW. This actually made BMW the most successful European automobile brand in the US market last year.

The US is followed in second place by Germany, with a total of 284,523 new registrations (prev.yr.: 296,930). Here, the high level of the previous year was not maintained, because of the increase in VAT and the uncertainty caused amongst consumers by discussions about CO2. Nonetheless, the BMW Group has done better in Germany, where the decline was 4.2%, than the market as a whole (-9.2%). Clear two-digit percentage increases were recorded by the markets that came in third to sixth places: last year, the United Kingdom recorded 173,685 deliveries (prev.yr.: 153,957/+12.8%), Italy 106,985 (prev.yr.: 96,458/+10.9%), Spain 72,849 (prev.yr.: 63,040/+15.6%) and in France 65,081 (prev.yr.: 52,875/+23.1%) cars were handed over to customers. Very positive developments were also recorded in 2007 in the growth markets of China, with 51,588 units (prev.yr.: 36,357/+41.9%), Russia, with 14,686 (prev.yr.: 9,505/+54.5%) and India, with 1,387 deliveries to customers (prev.yr.: 257/+439.7%).