While 2016 may be a celebratory year for BMW’s history, U.S. BMW sales are not giving the company much to cheer about. In May, deliveries of BMW brand vehicles were down 6.4 percent for a total of 29,017 units compared to 31,003 in May of 2015. After years of setting sales records, through the first five months of 2016, BMW sales lagged 8.7 percent from the same period last year.
“The shorter number of selling days in May no doubt affected the month totals but the ongoing transition to X models remains clear,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “The BMW X1 grows more popular each month with its siblings X3 and X6 giving it strong support. The X5 was limited only by availability but that will continue improving in the months ahead.”
BMW X1 sales improved 93.9 percent in May over a year ago, while the BMW X3 jumped 28.0 percent and BMW X6 sales were up 26.0 percent.
Minis sales dropped off even more. Mini USA reported a drop of 21.2 percent in May over the same month in 2015, with 5,833 deliveries. Through the end of May 2016, Mini sales stood at 20,230, down 16.0 percent from the 24,086 cars sold in the first five months of 2015.
Taking BMW and Mini together, total BMW Group U.S. sales were off 9.8 percent from a year ago, with a total of 144,811 vehicles sold.
The only bright spot in May sales were BMW Pre-Owned vehicles, which rose a half percent in May 2016 versus May the previous year.
The other two premium brands vying for the U.S. luxury sales crown didn’t fare much better, as most U.S. luxury brand sales were down. Mercedes-Benz sold 29,299 vehicles in May, a 1 percent decline from a year ago, but still enough to pad its lead in U.S. sales. As of the end of May, Mercedes-Benz had sold about 8,500 vehicles more than second-place Lexus, which was barely ahead of BMW.
At this stage, it appears that the luxury sales championship is Mercedes-Benz’s to win or lose, while BMW works on adjusting its X vehicle supply to try to stay in the game. While we’re interested in the outcome, we’re much more enthusiastic about the cars that BMW has made and sold up until now, and continuing to celebrate its anniversary for the rest of the year.—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
