Up a little is still up as BMW's U.S. sales crept higher in February. After a disappointing year in 2016, BMW of North America has now reported slight increases in sales year over year in the first two months of 2017. In February 2017, BMW dealers in the U.S. moved 22,558 vehicles, which was a 0.3 percent increase over February of last year. For 2017 to date, 40,667 units have been delivered compared to 40,580 at the same point last year. While the bump was only 0.2 percent, it was still good news as the premium car industry is recovering from a down year.
“March is the real beginning of the automotive selling season in the U.S. and BMW is well positioned for success with the right mix of vehicles and with the launch of the all-new 5 Series now underway,” said Ludwig Willisch, Head of BMW Group Region Americas. “The trend towards Sports Activity Vehicles is strong but so is demand for the new 5 Series, especially the new M550 which goes on sale in the Spring along with the hybrid-electric 530e.”
The BMW 530i and 540i have already helped the BMW sales effort, as 2,731 new 5 Series Sedans were sold in their debut month at U.S. dealerships. X vehicles helped, too. BMW X1 sales increased to 2,050 vehicles while 4,020 BMW X3s went out the door.
Things were different at Mini USA in February. New Mini sales were down 24.1 percent in February to 2,154 cars. This brought total BMW Group U.S. sales for 2017 to 45,931, which is a 1.6 percent drop from the first two months in 2016.
While new Mini sales were down, buyers still flocked to Mini dealers for pre-owned cars. In fact, Mini set a new February pre-owned sales record with 2,412 deliveries, an 8.2 percent jump over February 2016.
Sales of BMW pre-owned and certified pre-owned vehicles also set February records, indicating again that buyers still wanted lots of BMWs. Sales of BMW CPO vehicles were up 30.2 percent from the same month last year for a February record of 11,260 vehicles. Total BMW pre-owned sales experienced a 36.1 percent increase to 20,256 units in February. Total BMW pre-owned year-to-date sales were up 36.1 percent from the same time a year ago with 38,475 used BMWs delivered by dealers.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
