BMW Group Sales Achieve New Record in February

- Deliveries total 151,952 vehicles, increase of 7.6%

- Year-to-date sales rise 7.3% to 294,112

- Sales in Europe increase 7.7% in first two months

MUNICH, March 10, 2015 /CNW/ - The BMW Group achieved its best-ever February sales result with 151,952 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles delivered worldwide (prev. yr. 141,207/ +7.6%). A record number of 294,112 (prev. yr. 274,113) automobiles have been delivered to customers since the start of the year - an increase of 7.3% compared with the same period last year.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150310/732883 )

"We've had a good start to the year with February setting another sales record," said Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Sales and Marketing BMW. "I am confident that our fresh model line-up, including the brand new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer and the updated BMW 1 Series we've just premiered at the Geneva Motor Show, will provide the momentum to keep us growing in 2015," Robertson added.

The BMW brand enjoyed its best ever February with 131,416 BMW vehicles delivered to customers worldwide, an increase of 5.2% (prev. yr. 124,952). Year-to-date sales rose 5.7% compared with the same period last year, totalling 255,981 (prev. yr. 242,130). Demand for the BMW 2 Series is strong with a total of 7,302 vehicles delivered to customers in February. The 2 Series Active Tourer accounted for most of those sales with 5,360 units of the innovative compact vehicles delivered to customers worldwide in the second month of the year. The larger BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer, which will be the first seven-seater in its segment available with four-wheel drive, is expected to build on the Active Tourer's success when it comes onto the European market in June. The BMW 4 Series was delivered to a total of 9,636 customers in February while the BMW X4, launched in summer last year, achieved sales of 4,040. The BMW X5 continues to be a strong growth driver for the brand with sales up 46.0% on the same month last year (12,916 / prev. yr. 8,844) and the BMW X6 also saw an increase in sales, up 5.9% to a total of 2,819 (prev. yr. 2,662). Sales of BMW i vehicles totalled 2,165 in February with 1,824 BMW i3s and 341 BMW i8s delivered to customers. In 2014 - its first year on sale - the BMW i3 was the world's third most popular electric car with around 16,000 units sold.

Following the model change last year, the MINI brand saw sales rise 27.1% to total 20,303 (prev. yr. 15,976). 2015 has seen the best start to the year in the brand's history with a total of 37,678 MINIs delivered to customers in the first two months, an increase of 19.7% compared to the same period last year (31,486). The new MINI 3 door is proving a great hit with customers: 7,877 were delivered worldwide in February, up 69.8% on the same month last year, when sales were affected by the model change (prev. yr. 4,640). The MINI 5 door is also seeing strong sales, with a total of 5,088 sold in February.

Globally, the BMW Group achieved higher sales in all regions compared with February last year. Year-to-date figures are also up around the world, in line with the corporate strategy of balanced growth worldwide.

Deliveries of BMW and MINI models in Europe increased by 7.0% in February, totalling 64,685 (prev. yr. 60,435). Sales for the first two months of the year were up 7.7% (120,365 / prev. yr. 111,768). Growth was achieved in all European markets with particularly strong results in a number of countries. The German market saw registrations in February increase by 13.3% compared with the same month last year (20,660 / prev. yr. 18,229) while sales in Italy rose 8.4% to total 6,055 in the month (prev. yr. 5,588). Great Britain continues to see strong sales growth with a total of 6,341 BMW and MINIs delivered to customers (prev. yr. 5,980 / +6.0%).

BMW and MINI sales in the Americas continued their strong start to the year with sales in the region up 13.8% in February (34,698 / prev. yr. 30,490). Sales for the year-to-date are up 10.1% with a total of 62,150 vehicles delivered so far in 2015 (prev. yr. 56,467). North America was the region's biggest growth driver: deliveries of BMW and MINI vehicles in February totalled 28,921 in the USA (prev. yr. 24,476 / +18.2%) with a similar increase seen in Canada, where 2,692 vehicles were delivered to customers (prev. yr. 2,295 / +17.3%).

Customer deliveries in Asia are also higher than the same period last year with February sales in the region 4.1% up on last year (47,154 / prev. yr. 45,292) and year-to-date sales increasing by 5.4% (101,342 / prev. yr. 96,133). BMW and MINI sales in Mainland China totalled 31,089 in February, an increase of 2.7% on the same month last year (30,281) while sales in South Korea rose 22.0% to total 4,191 ( prev. yr. 3,435).

BMW Motorrad also continued to build on its successful start to the year with a sales increase of 13.5% (9,195 / prev. yr. 8,098), making it the brand's best ever February. A total of 15,458 BMW Motorrad vehicles were delivered to customers in the first two months of the year, an increase of 14.2% on the same period last year (13,536). This positive development is largely due to continuing strong demand for the vehicles introduced recently such as the S 1000 RR, R 1200 R and F 800 R.  

BMW Group sales in February 2015 at a glance 

				Up
	In February	Compared with	to/including	Compared with
	2015	previous year	February 2015	previous year
BMW Group
Automobiles	151,952	+7.6%	294,112	+7.3%
BMW	131,416	+5.2%	255,981	+5.7%
MINI	20,303	+27.1%	37,678	+19.7%
BMW Motorrad	9,195	+13.5%	15,458	+14.2%

The BMW Group

With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the world's leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 30 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2014, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.118 million cars and 123,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2013 was EUR 7.91 billion on revenues amounting to approximately EUR 76.06 billion. As of 31 December 2013, the BMW Group had a workforce of 110,351 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.

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SOURCE BMW Group

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