Sales of BMW cars and sports activity vehicles and coupes jumped 4.0% in September 2015, setting a record for September deliveries. A total of 26,608 vehicles were moved during the month, compared to 25,587 last September.
Year-to-date sales reached 249,956 BMWs, which was a 5.6% improvement over the same point in 2014.
“There’s no doubt about the strength of the U.S. economy and that people continue to buy new cars as evidenced by the BMW record sales result in September,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “Going into the all-important fourth quarter, the all-new BMW 7 Series and X1 go on sale this month and our expanded production capacity here in the U.S. means greater availability of the very popular BMW Sports Activity Vehicles, especially the X3 and the X5.”
The BMW 3 Series achieved a 10.6% increase in September, with 9,145 cars moving off dealer lots. The percentage of increase was dramatically higher for the BMW X3, which saw a 67.8% jump to 3,033 vehicles. The 5 Series had a similar increase, selling 4,059 cars versus 1,407 a year ago.
Total BMW Group sales in the U.S., which includes Mini, rose at about the same rate as the BMW branded units. September 2015 saw a 4.1% rise over the same month in 2014. In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported September sales of 31,022 vehicles compared to 29,806 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Through the first nine months of 2015, BMW Group sales were 294,930 vehicles, a 6.9% increase from the same period last year.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Mercedes-Benz had a better month, selling 29,020 vehicles, a 2,412 unit advantage over BMW. That surge also brought Mercedes to within 66 vehicles of BMW’s lead in U.S. luxury market sales for the year. Lexus trails in third place with 247,445, only 2,445 behind Mercedes-Benz.
Now that we’re into the final quarter of the year, we will probably see some significant sales promotions from the three leading premium carmakers. Could be a buyer’s market.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
