[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

Record Year Continues for BMW Group in April

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Record year continues for BMW Group in April

April deliveries total 162,093, increase of 4.3%
Year-to-date global sales rise 7.5% to 649,118

Munich — May 13, 2014... A total of 162,093 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles were delivered to customers in April, a rise of 4.3% on the same month last year (prev. yr. 155,427), making it the best April ever. Year-to-date Group sales climbed 7.5% to a new high, with 649,118 vehicles delivered in the first four months of the year (prev. yr. 603,631).

"The BMW Group achieved record sales in April, keeping us on track to achieve our aim of delivering our best ever year with more than two million vehicles sold in 2014", said Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Sales and Marketing BMW. "I am particularly pleased that sales of our new BMW 2 and 4 Series cars are developing well, proving that these brand new models are appealing to our customers", Robertson added. The BMW Group will launch a total of 16 new or revised models this year.

BMW enjoyed its best ever April with a total of 140,840 vehicles being delivered to customers (prev. yr. 130,604 / +7.8%). Sales for the year-to-date climbed 11.2% to 569,100 (prev. yr. 512,010). Deliveries of the BMW 2 Series, which has been in dealerships since March, reached 5,000 whilst the BMW 4 Series, which was launched on the market last October, has achieved sales of 25,859 in the first four months of the year. Sales of the BMW 3 Series grew steadily in the year-to-date, with 153,623 sold (prev. yr. 147,807/ +3.9%), as did BMW 5 Series sales, which rose 4.2% in the same period to reach 122,510 (prev. yr. 117,524). Deliveries of the BMW 6 Series jumped 19.4% (9,999 / prev. yr. 8,374).

The BMW X models continue to be strong growth drivers. Sales of the BMW X1 grew by 11.8% in the first four months of the year with 55,342 units sold (prev. yr. 49,517) and the BMW X3 experienced a similar rise with 53,098 new vehicles being delivered to customers so far in 2014 (prev. yr. 48,346/ +9.8%). The new BMW X5 also showed strong sales in the first four months, rising 20.8% to 42,753 (prev. yr. 35,383). Sales of the BMW i3 continue to be strong with around 1,000 delivered in April, bringing total sales for the year-to-date to 2,996. Many of the vehicles built so far are currently being used as showroom models and for test drives. As the cars become increasingly available in the coming months, sales are expected to rise accordingly. Customer deliveries in the USA, a major market for the BMW i3, started end of April.

April saw 20,917 MINIs delivered to customers (prev. yr. 24,583/ -14.9%). Year-to-date sales are down 13.2% with 78,785 units sold (prev. yr. 90,739). This expected decrease in sales is due to the recent model change in the core model MINI Hatch. The strong interest customers are showing in the new MINI is expected to be reflected in the retail figures from summer onwards.

The BMW Group increased sales in all three major sales regions in the first four months of 2014, in line with the strategy of balanced sales worldwide.

Deliveries of BMW and MINI models in Asia increased by 20.6% to 209,558 vehicles (prev. yr. 173,738) in the year-to-date. In mainland China, sales rose 25.2% to 145,716 (prev. yr. 116,381). Sales were also strong in South Korea, where 14,097 vehicles have been delivered in the first four months of the year (prev. yr. 11,990 / +17.6%). Japan saw growth of 15.0% in the same period, with 21,510 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 18,707).

In the Americas, a total of 135,827 BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered to customers year-to-date (prev. yr. 132,865 / +2.2%). In the USA, sales for the first four months of 2014 rose 2.5%, with a total of 110,626 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 107,968). Sales in Brazil in the same period climbed 23.3% to 5,586 (prev. yr. 4,531) and deliveries in Mexico rose by 13.7%, with a total of 4,610 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 4,056).

The European market continues to show signs of recovery with a total of 283,702 BMW and MINI models delivered in the first four months of the year (prev. yr. 277,095 / +2.4%). Sales in Scandinavia are growing significantly in 2014, climbing 20.8% in the year-to-date to 14,363 vehicles (prev. yr. 11,893).

Following its record result for the first quarter, BMW Motorrad sales continue to grow strongly. In April, a total of 16,344 Motorcycles and Maxi-Scooters were delivered to customers (prev. yr. 14,587/ +12.0%). That makes April the most successful single month in the company’s history. Year-to-date sales at BMW Motorrad rose 14.6% to 45,063 units (prev.yr. 39,319).

[MuNkY6913]

I have a question. Do these sales reflect the crazy amounts of cars that are just sitting at the dealers? Or are they actually going by cars that were registered in the customers names when they by them. Would be pretty easy to pad sales number by overstocking the dealers, kinda looks like that at my local dealer. Just curious how it works. I don't think leases should count either. Not until they buy them outright at the end of the lease. If they trade it in then they still have to sell it so it really hadn't been sold. Just borrowed for a bit. Just kinda rambling now haha. Well I said it.

[bdardashti]

Originally Posted by MuNkY6913

I have a question. Do these sales reflect the crazy amounts of cars that are just sitting at the dealers? Or are they actually going by cars that were registered in the customers names when they by them. Would be pretty easy to pad sales number by overstocking the dealers, kinda looks like that at my local dealer. Just curious how it works. I don't think leases should count either. Not until they buy them outright at the end of the lease. If they trade it in then they still have to sell it so it really hadn't been sold. Just borrowed for a bit. Just kinda rambling now haha. Well I said it.

I've been curious about this as well, whether these are sell through. Depends on whether the dealers buy the cars from BMW and sell to consumer; if so, they would be included here.

As for leases, they are, and should be counted, because BMW still sells the car to BMW FS. How a customer pays for the car doesn't really impact the fact that the customer bought it.

[Powaup]

I wonder is the reason rates are so high right now at 3.17% not pretty

[hellrotm]

Originally Posted by MuNkY6913

I have a question. Do these sales reflect the crazy amounts of cars that are just sitting at the dealers? Or are they actually going by cars that were registered in the customers names when they by them. Would be pretty easy to pad sales number by overstocking the dealers, kinda looks like that at my local dealer. Just curious how it works. I don't think leases should count either. Not until they buy them outright at the end of the lease. If they trade it in then they still have to sell it so it really hadn't been sold. Just borrowed for a bit. Just kinda rambling now haha. Well I said it.

Yeah, not sure.

I know BMW was caught end of 2012 using some funny math. They allegedly sold 281,460 units, but only 268,498 new BMW vehicles were actually registered.

[ORIGIN M.]

[l888apex]

BMW is only guilty of doing what every other car manufacturer does, slight manipulation has been industry SOP since this sort of data started to matter.

The numbers are like chassis dyno results, a baseline to compare not necessarily the pure unadulterated truth.

[bimmerjph]

Originally Posted by MuNkY6913

I have a question. Do these sales reflect the crazy amounts of cars that are just sitting at the dealers? Or are they actually going by cars that were registered in the customers names when they by them. Would be pretty easy to pad sales number by overstocking the dealers, kinda looks like that at my local dealer. Just curious how it works. I don't think leases should count either. Not until they buy them outright at the end of the lease. If they trade it in then they still have to sell it so it really hadn't been sold. Just borrowed for a bit. Just kinda rambling now haha. Well I said it.

Its the number of cars the dealers order.

Thats actually why BMW was the number one in the US two years ago, they just stuffed their dealers full of cars. The was like a 13,000 car discrepancy between the "official" sales numbers and the number of cars registered. MB had like a 3 car discrepancy. I think they tried to do it again this past year because if you look at the sales numbers there was this random month where 6er sales increased by like 300% from the previous year and there was a nearly 500% difference from the preceding and following months (sales went from 557 cars to 3063 then back to 483). And there has been no changes to the 6er line up in the past year so there is no reason for that massive of a sales increase.

[GMe90]

These numbers seem inflated to me. I see dealers still selling new 2013 models.

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by MuNkY6913

I have a question. Do these sales reflect the crazy amounts of cars that are just sitting at the dealers?

Yes, it goes by sales orders put in by dealers. Not that that's misleading. If models sit on dealer lots for too long then dealers reduce their orders with BMW corporate. It may work for the short term but the lack of overall consumer demand will catch up to you quickly.

I believe them though. I lose count of the number of F30's and F32's I see in any given day. And don't even get me started on the X1-X5's I see. Although the DC Metro Area is known for being a wealthy area, I don't see many X6's since many of us here at least have some degree of taste.

It'll only be a matter of time before I start seeing F80's and F82's everywhere.

Wonder if Mini's numbers will improve once the new Mini Cooper hits the lots.

[gordontrd]

That is a super B.S....... They ask the dealership to puch unit and report the sales. So BMW can look great! Lol

[hd2000fxdl]

Well BMW has to do what and how the industry reports, apple to apples so to speak.

Well that and the side gig marketing company I am with while not responsible for any huge amount of these numbers worlwide, but I think the last average is people qualify for a BMW bonus on average about 1 an hour last I saw and that was picking up. so that getting close to 9000 vehicles a year. The thing that may not impact these results greatly is, we don't have to purchase a new vehicle, I liked that being I like the E70 body style better anyway, but if forced, I guess I could have suffered with a F15.. LOL

Harry