BMW Group delivered a total of 181,051 (+0.2 per cent) BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles last month, marking the best July sales for the German automaker.

Year-to-date sales went up to 1,423,565 (+1.6 per cent) during the month, a statement said.

“Our focus on sustainable, profitable sales growth is proving successful, as we continue to attract more customers than ever, despite the various headwinds currently affecting the industry,” said Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Sales and Brand BMW.

“Customer demand for our X vehicles continues to be very high and now we’ve increased production capacity by localising the BMW X3 in China and South Africa, we can already see the positive effect that additional availability has on sales. The continuing, growing demand for our electrified vehicles is also very pleasing, with deliveries of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles up by over 40 per cent in the year to date,” Nota continued.

In the first seven months of the year, deliveries of BMW Group electrified vehicles totalled 71,310 vehicles worldwide, an increase of 40.6 per cent on the same period last year. July sales of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles totalled 10,649 (+30.9 per cent), confirming the BMW Group’s position as a leading global provider of premium electrified mobility.

Improved availability of the locally-built BMW 5 Series plug-in hybrid (fuel consumption combined: 2.3-2.1 l/100 km; electricity consumption combined: 13.9-13.3 kWh/100 km, CO2 emissions combined: 52-47 g/km) in China, helped electrified sales in the BMW Group’s largest overall market increase more than six-fold in the year to date, with a total of 8,078 units sold so far in 2018. Several other major markets also achieved significant growth in year-to-date electrified sales, including the USA (13,874 / +39.5 per cent) and the UK (9,923 / +34.3 per cent).

July sales of all BMW brand vehicles edged up on last year’s result with a total of 154,531 vehicles delivered worldwide (+0.7 per cent). Sales in the year-to-date are up 1.9 per cent (1,213,833). All major sales regions contributed to the increase in deliveries.

With production of the BMW X3 ramping up in South Africa and China, in addition to existing capacity in the USA, worldwide sales of that model totalled 15,482 in July, an increase of 52.3 per cent compared with the same month last year. Full worldwide availability of the BMW 5 Series since the beginning of the year has also led to significantly increased sales of that model in the first seven months: 221,732 (+16.2 per cent).

Year-to-date sales at MINI achieved almost the same high level as last year, with a total of 207,675 (-0.2 per cent) vehicles delivered to customers worldwide. MINI deliveries in July were down 2.7 per cent (26,244).

2018 is a significant year for BMW Motorrad, with nine new models being introduced. This required some adjustments to production, which in some cases can affect deliveries. Nonetheless, BMW Motorrad continues to strive for sales growth across the full calendar year. In the year-to-date, a total of 101,839 units were delivered to customers, a decrease of 1.3 per cent year-on-year. – TradeArabia News Service