The slump is now a slide as U.S. BMW sales dropped 7.7% in August versus August of 2016. A total of 23,553 vehicles were delivered last month compared to 25,531 a year ago. So far in 2017, BMW has sold 194,604 units, a 5.0% drop, or 10,140 fewer vehicles than in the first eight months of 2016.
BMW 4 Series and 5 Series sales improved in August, as did deliveries of the BMW X1. BMW 4 Series sales were up 49.3%; 5 Series jumped 37.6%; and the X1 saw a 39% improvement.
BMW's experience in August mirrored that of some other carmakers in August, as many saw lower numbers. But it was the weather catastrophe at the end of the month that had many people thinking of other things besides new cars.
“Even as we are reporting the August sales, our thoughts are with those in the devastated areas of Texas and Louisiana, especially our many employees and colleagues. We are making significant contributions to the American Red Cross to relieve as much of the suffering as possible,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “August numbers were a bit unusual in that sedans outpaced our SAV’s as model year change over for the X5 and new model production of the X3 significantly restricted availability of our especially popular SAV models. This of course will improve as production ramps up.”
August Mini sales were down 10.5% at 4,448 units sold.
A BMW Group sector that saw significant improvement year-to-date through the end of August was electrified vehicles. Sales of BMW i, BMW iPerformance, and Mini plug-in hybrids were up 9.2% to 11,672 for the first eight months of 2017. Electrified models accounted for 5.2% of total BMW brand sales in the U.S.
Total sales of BMW pre-owned vehicles were down 16.5% in August to 20,392 vehicles. Through the end of last month, BMW pre-owned sales were still up 10.3% year-to-date over 2016.
The other major players in the U.S. premium segment also saw a significant drop in sales. Mercedes-Benz dropped even more than BMW, with an 11% fall to 25,373 units. Mercedes-Benz still leads the U.S. luxury market year-to-date with a total of 213,242 units delivered to second-place BMW's 194,604.
Compared to Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Lexus had a great August; its sales only fell 0.4% as it sold a league-leading 30,801 vehicles. Lexus trails BMW for the year's second spot by only 1,141 vehicles.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
