[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW Group U.S. Reports August 2017 Sales

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Woodcliff Lake, NJ – September 1, 2017… Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 7.7 percent in August for a total of 23,553 compared to 25,531 vehicles sold in August 2016. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is down 5 percent in the U.S. on sales of 194,604 vehicles compared to 204,744 sold in the first eight months of 2016.

Notable vehicle sales in August include the BMW 4 Series and BMW 5 Series, which both showed strong gains for the second straight month, and the BMW X1. The BMW 4 Series increased 49.3 percent to 3,412 vehicles, while the BMW 5 Series which increased 37.6 percent to 3,587 vehicles. The BMW X1 increased 39 percent to 2,002 vehicles.

“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.”

MINI Brand Sales
For August, MINI USA reported 4,448 vehicles sold, a decrease of 10.5 percent from the 4,969 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a total of 31,051 vehicles sold, a decrease of 11.0 percent from 34,887 vehicles sold in the first eight months of 2016.

BMW Group Sales
In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported August sales of 28,001 vehicles, a decrease of 8.2 percent from the 30,500 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are down 5.8 percent on sales of 225,655 vehicles in the first eight months of 2017 compared to 239,631 in the same period in 2016.

BMW Group Electrified Vehicle Sales
Sales of BMW Group electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increased 9.2 percent to 11,672 through August 2017, accounting for 5.2 percent of total BMW brand sales in the U.S. Currently, BMW offers six electrified vehicle models in the U.S., including the BMW i3 and BMW i8, as well as the BMW i Performance models: BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e and the BMW X5 xDrive 40e. MINI offers the MINI Countryman plug-inhybrid electric vehicle, which launched in June 2017.

BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles
In August, BMW Certified Pre-Owned sold 11,600 vehicles, a decrease of 3 percent from August 2016.
Total BMW Pre-Owned sold 20,392 vehicles, a decrease of 16.5 percent from August 2016.
Total BMW Pre-Owned cars sold year-to-date were 160,999, a 10.3 percent increase from the first eight months of 2016.

MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles
In August, MINI Certified Pre-Owned sold 984 vehicles, a decrease of 22.3 percent from August 2016.
Total MINI Pre-Owned sold 2,694 vehicles in August 2017, a decrease of 2.8 percent from August 2016.
Total MINI Pre-Owned sales year-to-date were 21,002, a 10.1 percent increase from the first eight months of 2016.

[F80NJM3]

I'm old enough to remember when these posts read "record sales blah blah".... :

[firedown31]

Something something BMW sucks something residuals suck something new 5 series and x3 will boost sales... Nothing new here.

[ah3nyc]

I remember when BMW made quality cars

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by ah3nyc

I remember when BMW made quality cars

They still do but people can't afford them. Buyers are tapped out. There's a reason why car loans have terms of 6 more years coupled with higher delinquencies.

[misterjim]

I wonder why the big jump in 4-series?

[Ibiza]

Not a good metric when both CPO and used sales are down for the month, especially with MY 2015 lease returns starting to hit the used car market. MY 2015 was part of the record sales upto MY 16, before contracting new car sales MY 2017+.

The 4 series growth is maybe due to the recent LCI?

I don't believe the model change over for the X5 is the reason for decline in sales, as there wasn't a LCI for this chassis nor significant changes from MY17 to MY 18 except for how the packages/options are bundled in the ordering guide. Then why the $3,000 loyalty credit for the X5's that that started August 2017?

[mundo74]

Originally Posted by misterjim

I wonder why the big jump in 4-series?

looks better that the vanilla 3 series

[positiveions]

Time to save the Mini Brand by giving 2.5k incentives across the lineup. I will be the first to snatch a countryman S. just saying

[BimmerMat135]

Originally Posted by F32Fleet

They still do but people can't afford them. Buyers are tapped out. There's a reason why car loans have terms of 6 more years coupled with higher delinquencies.

Quality cars? I got a failing transfer case at 50000kms and now one spot of rust on a 2014 car barely 3.5 years old you call that quality? The brake barely lasted 50000kms and I'm doing a lot of highway.

[babaikram]

Originally Posted by misterjim

I wonder why the big jump in 4-series?

Probably the most high catching amongst the non-M cars

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by BimmerMat135

Quality cars? I got a failing transfer case at 50000kms and now one spot of rust on a 2014 car barely 3.5 years old you call that quality? The brake barely lasted 50000kms and I'm doing a lot of highway.

It's because you're Canadian. *joking*

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by misterjim

I wonder why the big jump in 4-series?

4GC> 3 series.

[kadify]

I spoke with my SA about not seeing many new 5s on the road and he said they're having an incredibly difficult time moving the new 5s and 7s. He said people are just buying the old F10s at major discount now but no new 5s.

[c63er]

Bmw is just stuck in the same spiral many American car companies got into and even mercedes in the 90s. They decided to become a volume manufacturer and enjoyed the easy money of top brand in volume market. But after a while the spiral sets in where the only way to keep competitive is to lower quality/costs. Then before you know it your brand just disappeared. That's when the real pain steps in.

Believe it or not there was a time when American cars stood for quality. If you said that in the 80s, 90s or 2000s you'd be laughed at. They aren't total pos anymore but they have never really regained that reputation.

There was a time when bmw was considered a drivers car, from the x5 and 7 series down to line. Now very few people will say that. We are at the point looking down the precipice of real pain for bmw as their brand slides farther and farther away as they keep chasing easy money in China by makin essentially subpar Toyotas with a bmw logo on them.

Mercedes quickly realized their mistake and made corrections (relatively quickly in car years, like 7 years) and they are doing ok now. Still not the reputation they had in the 70s but good none the less. American cars were slower to fix their mistakes but also on a better path.

BMWs F generation has been a general abomination. With the new z4 shared platform it will make the f series bmws look like hardcore dedicated Bmws. Question is will the rest of the g series cars slide farther down or has bmw realized their mistake and will try to make a save. The new 5 series while elegant on the outside has preschool level interior displays unbecoming and befitting of a car with the heritage and positioning of the famous 5 series. More trashing of the bmw brand for an easy sale to someone in China who thinks lcd displays with color are cool.

We shall see if bmw continues down the spiral with the g series or makes a save.

[misterjim]

Originally Posted by Ibiza

Not a good metric when both CPO and used sales are down for the month, especially with MY 2015 lease returns starting to hit the used car market. MY 2015 was part of the record sales upto MY 16, before contracting new car sales MY 2017+.

The 4 series growth is maybe due to the recent LCI?

I don't believe the model change over for the X5 is the reason for decline in sales, as there wasn't a LCI for this chassis nor significant changes from MY17 to MY 18 except for how the packages/options are bundled in the ordering guide. Then why the $3,000 loyalty credit for the X5's that that started August 2017?

Looks like the used car market is struggling in general: http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...821-story.html

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by positiveions

Time to save the Mini Brand by giving 2.5k incentives across the lineup. I will be the first to snatch a countryman S. just saying

Minis are so comically overpriced. Building a comparable 4 door Cooper S to my old Mazda 3 was $10k more for the same power and comparing a Cooper Works to my current GTI is even worse.

The current four banger just has awful power delivery that makes it feel tapped out at about 4k rpm. The three is better, but overburdened in all but the Cooper.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by c63er

Bmw is just stuck in the same spiral many American car companies got into and even mercedes in the 90s. They decided to become a volume manufacturer and enjoyed the easy money of top brand in volume market. But after a while the spiral sets in where the only way to keep competitive is to lower quality/costs. Then before you know it your brand just disappeared. That's when the real pain steps in.

Believe it or not there was a time when American cars stood for quality. If you said that in the 80s, 90s or 2000s you'd be laughed at. They aren't total pos anymore but they have never really regained that reputation.

There was a time when bmw was considered a drivers car, from the x5 and 7 series down to line. Now very few people will say that. We are at the point looking down the precipice of real pain for bmw as their brand slides farther and farther away as they keep chasing easy money in China by makin essentially subpar Toyotas with a bmw logo on them.

Mercedes quickly realized their mistake and made corrections (relatively quickly in car years, like 7 years) and they are doing ok now. Still not the reputation they had in the 70s but good none the less. American cars were slower to fix their mistakes but also on a better path.

BMWs F generation has been a general abomination. With the new z4 shared platform it will make the f series bmws look like hardcore dedicated Bmws. Question is will the rest of the g series cars slide farther down or has bmw realized their mistake and will try to make a save. The new 5 series while elegant on the outside has preschool level interior displays unbecoming and befitting of a car with the heritage and positioning of the famous 5 series. More trashing of the bmw brand for an easy sale to someone in China who thinks lcd displays with color are cool.

We shall see if bmw continues down the spiral with the g series or makes a save.

oh I don't know. American cars maybe back in the 60's and 50's might have been comparably better.

BMW had to expand or risked being gobbled up. Don't forget that BMW bought/sold Land Rover while Mercedes did the same with Chrysler back in late 90's/early 2000.

This is just another cyclical road bump. It's like housing. Cheap financing coupled with longer loan terms allowed car companies to increase prices and sell a ton of cars. These policies brought demand forward and the hangover is upon us.

[InsideMan]

Originally Posted by misterjim

I wonder why the big jump in 4-series?

2018s and huge incentives on 2017s. Dealers know time is ticking on 2017 4s.

[InsideMan]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

Minis are so comically overpriced. Building a comparable 4 door Cooper S to my old Mazda 3 was $10k more for the same power and comparing a Cooper Works to my current GTI is even worse.

The current four banger just has awful power delivery that makes it feel tapped out at about 4k rpm. The three is better, but overburdened in all but the Cooper.

You don't see the value. It's okay.

Plenty of people love their Mini. Highly profitable ?.

[michal12]

It just looks like an ageing issue with X3, X5 and X6.
But why the 7 dropped so much - well thats more interesting..

[Laki021]

Because people come interested in 7 series and they end up buying 5 series next to it, since they are so similar. That's what my dealer told me.

BMW still makes brilliant cars, new 5 is one of the best cars on the market in any class, even Jeremy Clarkson says it's the best car in the world, but here on the forum, it's terrible, low quality, that is simply incredible, such people should not be on this forum.

Important thing is, global sales are up, European sales are up, who cares if NA sales are down due to basically higher prices compare to the previous year. They are smartly avoiding the car bubble in the US. Again funny, in the same post people complaining about high costs of new BMWs and how they have become mass producer and are lowering the quality in order to make profit. Well good news, no more cheap BMWs, they can focus on high quality again...