sales of BMW Group automobiles in the first half of 2005 increased by 9.4% to 645,531 (2004: 590,989). In June, growth accelerated significantly compared with the same month last year: deliveries to customers increased by 13.5% to 129,289 automobiles of the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands (2004: 113,891).
Never before have so many vehicles been sold in a single month as in June 2005, BMW said in a statement earlier this month. In terms of sales, the entire first half of 2005 was also the most successful in the BMW Group's history. When comparing the major regions, the strongest retail growth was recorded in Western Europe in the first six months of the year. Here, deliveries of 390,233 vehicles exceeded the previous year's number (348,411) by 12%.
In Asia, sales volume increased by 4.5% to 50,071 (2004: 47,906). This figure includes the Chinese markets where 3,042 automobiles were delivered in June; an increase of 32.4% compared with the same month last year (2,297). In the year up to and including June, 13,852 vehicles were sold in China; an increase of 3.2% (2004: 13,425). In North America, the BMW Group's sales volume in the first six months of 2005 grew by 1.3% to 155,571 automobiles (2004: 153,532).
Dr Michael Ganal, member of the Management Board of BMW AG, responsible for sales and marketing, said: "The first half of the year was marked by the model change in our best-selling model, the BMW 3 Series sedan. Nevertheless, we also grew significantly during this period and continued to develop our position in the premium segment. As the new model is now available worldwide and our whole product range is successful, we are expecting this development to continue in the second half of the year."
In the first half of the year, sales of the BMW brand increased by 8.6% to 538,132 vehicles (2004: 495,494). In June, deliveries of 109,600 BMW automobiles were up 12% on the same month last year (97,863) - that is also a new record for a month.
The new BMW 3 Series sedan has been well received, with 69,385 deliveries to customers since the model launch in March. Altogether, 127,951 BMW 3 Series sedans were sold in the first half of the year (2004: 120,639/+6.1%).
The updated BMW 7 Series, the second important market launch in the first half of the year, also got off to a successful start. In June, worldwide deliveries of 5,212 automobiles of the BMW brand's top model were 19.7% higher than in the same month last year (4,356).
In the year up to and including June, 20,126 BMW 7 Series automobiles were sold (2004: 23,669/-15%). In Germany, the 7 Series clearly defended its market leadership in the large luxury segment with 3,077 deliveries in the first half of 2005.
MINI continues on its successful course. In the first half of the year, 108,114 MINI brand vehicles were delivered to customers worldwide (2004: 95,176/+13.6%). Growth became even more dynamic in June with sales rising by 22.9% to 19,640 units (2004: 15.979).
Dr Ganal: "Since it was launched four years ago MINI has broken one record after another." The product mix continues to be high-grade: more than a quarter of the customers (26.5%) decided in the first half of 2005 on the top model Cooper S, just under half on the MINI Cooper (46.0%) and a good quarter (27.5%) on the MINI One.
In the first half of 2005, 285 Rolls-Royce Phantom cars were delivered to customers (2004: 319/-11.9%). Forty-nine cars were delivered in June, the same as last year.
In the period up to and including June, BMW Motorcycles surpassed significantly the previous year's level. Sales rose by 17.9% to 57,287 units (2004: 48,570). In June 2005 deliveries increased by 9.8% to 11,566 motorcycles (2004: 10,538).