Continuing a yearlong trend, sales of BMWs in the U.S. were down 18.2 percent in November 2016, with 26,189 deliveries compared to 32,003 a year ago. Most premium carmakers experienced a sales downturn this year, but BMW seems to be hit harder than most, with a 10 percent drop in year-to-date sales. So far in 2016, BMW has sold 280,339 vehicles compared to 311,398 in the first eleven months of 2015.
Some models were bright spots for BMW in November, with 7 Series sales up 18.0 percent to 1,233 units, BMW X1 deliveries up 53.2 percent to 2,745, and BMW X5 sales up 18.4 percent to 4,693 vehicles.
“Only a month remains in this year and we are beginning to bid farewell to the current generation 5 Series and getting ready to welcome the all-new BMW 5 Series which will make its world debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “The dynamic driving character of the new 5 Series will be a complement to our 7 Series and make for a stronger model lineup heading into 2017.”
Also improving in November were sales of Minis. The 4,507 Minis sold in November represented a 1.4 percent increase from November last year. Still, total U.S. year-to-date sales of Minis are 47,372, which is down 11.5 percent over the same period last year.
Repeating the trend from previous months, and showing that consumers still want BMWs, but perhaps not new BMWs, sales of pre-owned BMWs set another record in November. The 10,606 Certified Pre-Owned BMWs was 26.4 percent higher than the number sold last November, while the total sale of BMW pre-owned vehicles, 19,995, represented a 43.2 percent jump over November 2015. To date, 210,541 pre-owned BMWs have left the dealerships, a 25.4 percent increase over the first eleven months of 2015.
So far in 2016, BMW pre-owned sales have been 42 percent of total BMW sales, which is a significant leap from 2015, when the percentage of pre-owned sales was 35% of BMW total sales for the year. This seems to indicate that consumer interest in BMWs is still good, but for whatever reasons, used BMWs are commanding a larger share of dealers' deliveries.
Mercedes-Benz sales were also down, but were still higher than BMW and Lexus in November, which pretty much wraps up the U.S. premium car sales championship for Daimler. Lexus sales slipped 4.3 percent year-to-date while Mercedes-Benz deliveries were down 0.2 percent for the year. Interestingly and going against the industry trend, Audi sales have been up 2.9 percent so far in 2016.
As loyal fans of the marque, we hate to see BMW sales drop, especially since we want more BMW owners in the Club. With the explosion of interest in BMW X vehicles over the past few years, the company is looking to that market segment to improve sales.
Five new or refreshed BMW X vehicles will arrive by 2019. The range-topping G07 BMW X7 will probably be revealed in 2018 as a 2019 model. The third-generation G01 BMW X3 is due in 2017 as a 2018 model. We should see the all-new F47 BMW X2 sometime in 2017.
The F26 BMW X4 Sports Activity Coupe will be due for a life cycle improvement (LCI) around late 2017 or early 2018 and an X4 M40 is said to be in the works. Rumors have also swirled around that the F15 BMW X5 might also be scheduled for a significant refresh next year, which also means the X6 will not be far behind.
If BMW has accepted that the X vehicles will comprise a growing share of its total sales, then having new or refreshed models entering the catalog over the next one to three years is bound to help overall sales, especially in the U.S.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
