BMW enjoys best ever month in March boosted by Mini and Rolls-Royce
THE BMW Group enjoyed its best ever month in March, selling a total of 165,842 vehicles – which includes Mini, Rolls-Royce and the group’s motorcycle brands.
The figure is a 17% improvement on March last year (141,717 units) and also exceeds the previous sales record of 152,721 vehicles recorded in December 2007. The BMW and Mini brands also set new monthly records.
A strong performance across all territories assisted the growth, with sales up in Europe 7.8%, in the Americas 18.6% and in Asia, 52%.
Ian Robertson, BMW board member for sales and marketing, said: “2011 got off to an excellent start for the BMW Group with new sales records. This positive development is mainly thanks to our attractive model range and healthy auto markets in many parts of the world – in the established markets of Europe and the US, and in the emerging markets of South America and Asia.
“Sales volume of the year 2011 is expected to rise to well over 1.5m units, a new all-time high, with the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands all achieving new sales volume records.”
For the BMW brand, sales of the 5 Series doubled while across the range, volumes climbed 14.6%. Sales for the year to the end of March were up 20.8% at 321,175 vehicles (2010: 265,819).
The German market also saw a strong increase in new registrations, with the 5 Series and 7 Series leading their respective segments after the first quarter. Global demand was also strong for the X1 and X3.
For Mini, the Countryman crossover helped drive sales to record levels. At 30,689 units (+28.5%), Mini sales easily exceeded the brand’s previous best month in 2008. A total of 60,860 vehicles were sold in Q1 the first quarter of 2011, representing a sales increase of 22.9% compared with the first quarter last year.
The Countryman, introduced last September, accounted for more than a quarter of all Mini sales in March.
In the luxury sector, the Rolls-Royce brand continued to grow. In March a total of 261 saloons were sold, up almost 109% on the same month last year. In the year to date, sales increased almost 160%.
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