BMW Australia demonstrates its contribution to the company’s global success which last year saw a BMW, MINI or Rolls-Royce car sold every 13 seconds
BMW is defying the 19th consecutive month of a declining automotive market in Australia to record year-to-date sales growth. Total BMW sales for the first three quarters of the year increased +0.5 per cent with 20,010 vehicles sold across the nation.
The 10 month period also saw BMW increase its premium segment market share by +1.6% to 24.1%. September was a particularly strong month with 2,480 BMW vehicles sold – an increase of 19.4 per cent on the corresponding month last year. It was the third month in a row of growth for BMW in an environment where year-to-date (Jan-Oct) new vehicle sales were down almost 78,000 units compared with the same period last year.
The new and revised BMW X range of vehicles continue to be the brand’s biggest growth drivers. Between January and October, a total of 13,587 BMW X models sold, accounting for 67 per cent of total BMW vehicles sold in Australia.
The BMW X3 (4,000 cars sold), X4 (1,341 cars) and X5 (2,942 cars) continued to be firm favourites in the BMW X model line-up. The X5 alone saw an increase of 29 per cent year-to-date, while 537 new BMW X7 luxury-class SAVs were delivered to customers within six months of market introduction.
21 variants will arrive before the end of the year as part of the company’s biggest product offensive. Among them are the all-new 1 Series premium hatch, four new 8 Series variants including Gran Coupe; 320i, 330e; X1 and X5 xDrive 45e plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) models.
BMW’s approach is geared towards offering customers a choice of either combustion engine, plug-in hybrid electric or fully electric vehicles to suit their individual needs.
One in five BMWs sold locally wears an M or M Performance badge, putting Australia among the highest in the world for M market share. Furthermore, local BMW M and M Performance sales were up a 36.6 per cent in the January to October 2019 period.
BMW Australia is celebrating 40 years in business. Sales back in 1979 were in the order of 1,600, while in 2018 the total volume was 23,000 cars.