BMW NA delivered 25,531 BMW-brand vehicles in August 2016. This would have been a great number a few years ago, but unfortunately, it is about 8% fewer units than the company sold in August 2015. The August figures are in line with the company's overall sales so far in 2016, which are down about 8.3% year-to-date.
There were bright spots in August, however. Customers took delivery of 1,230 BMW 7 Series in August, as well as 4,668 BMW X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and 4,121 BMW X5 SAVs. All of these were increases from August of last year.
Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO of BMW of North America, discussed the importance of the X-vehicle lines, saying, “The clear trend toward Sports Activity Vehicles took a good-sized leap forward in August, as our U.S. plant again increased production and availability of the always popular BMW X3 and X5 pushing total X model sales to 44% of BMW retail in the U.S. in August. With the production increase, I fully expect the key SAV numbers to remain strong in the U.S. through the end of the year.”
Mini sales were also lower than last year, but only by 2.7 percent. Mini USA sold 4,969 cars in August, down from 5,109 a year ago. So far in 2016, customers have purchased or leased 34,887 new Minis, down 14.0 percent from the 40,560 sold January to August 2015. In that light, the August drop of 2.7 percent may mean that the downward trend is slowing considerably, if not preparing to turn around.
It’s not that people in the U.S. don’t like BMWs any more. Sales of BMW Certified Pre-Owned vehicles went through the roof in August, with a record 11,959 sales—a 19.3 percent jump over last year. The pre-owned BMW sales figures get even more amazing when looking at non-CPO BMW Pre-Owned. In August, BMW NA dealers moved 24,420 pre-owned units, a 54.9 percent increased over August 2015. Looking at the total BMW-brand sales experience in August, perhaps the economy is a factor in driving BMW fans to the less-costly pre-owned side of BMW ownership.
A total of 145,926 pre-owned BMWs were sold during the first eight months of 2016, which represents a 17.5 percent jump over the same period in 2015.
Reinforcing the possible economic reasons for pre-owned sales trending up while new car sales trended down are the Mini pre-owned figures. A record 1,267 Certified Pre-Owned Minis were delivered in August 2016, an 11.7 percent increase over last year. Total Mini Pre-Owned sales hit 2,773 vehicles, a 2.9 percent bump and also a record. Year-to-date Mini Pre-Owned sales are running 4.8 percent ahead of the same time frame in 2015.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz maintained its U.S. premium sales lead over BMW and Lexus by have a record month. In its best August ever, the company sold 28,404 Mercedes-Benz vehicles, which is 31 more than it sold in August of 2015, for a 0.1 percent increase.
Lexus had a better month that either BMW or Mercedes-Benz even with a 7.6 percent drop in the number of vehicles sold in August, which was 30,938 units, by the way. Lexus’ year-to-date total of 210,391 was enough to remain in second place behind Mercedes-Benz and ahead of BMW.
Is this game of musical chairs played by the big three carmakers producing premium vehicles for the U.S. market simply a cyclical thing, or is it a function of each company’s model lineup and when the models start to get old and are replaced? Will the impending release of the next-generation BMW 5 Series later this year give BMW a head start on 2017 sales? Is the fact that BMW has been more public about its intentions to produce more electrified and eventually, self-driving cars somehow turning prospective buyers off? Is the pool of car owners who truly want to have fun driving a premium performance car dwindling?
We don’t have the answer to any of these questions, but we hope BMW does. It’s nice when your favorite marque is the best-selling brand, but as long as it keeps making vehicles that we like to drive, we don’t mind so much relinquishing the sales bragging rights. Besides, there’s always next year.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
