Recession? What Recession? BMW On All-Time High

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: June 8th, 2011

recession what recession bmw on all time high

Audi isn’t the only German premium brand to report stellar numbers in May. The Bavarian competition, 89km down south from Audi’s Ingolstadt, didn’t sit on their thumbs either. The BMW Group increased its May sales by 22.1 percent to 147,563 BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce brand vehicles. That’s an all-time sales high for the month of May. Year-to-date, the number stands at 667,511 units for a growth of 20.7 percent, BMW says in an emailed statement. What they don’t say is even more outstanding …

Where did they sell all those cars? Mainly in Germany (29,372 units, +27.7%), in the U.S. (26,452 units, +19.7%), and of course in China (21,150 units, +51.1%). As far as premium cars are concerned, the China boom rages on.

Solid double-digit growth was also reported from the BRIKT markets: Brazil (+57.3%), Russia (58.3%), India (+160.9%), Korea (+49.1%) and Turkey (130.2%).

BMW outdistances Audi both in May and on a YTD level.

As far as individual brands go, the table says it all. Except for one brand that needed a bit of work.

With inherited British understatement, BMW does not quote any sales numbers for Rolls Royce. “Rolls-Royce Motor Cars saw sustained sales growth in all markets during the period” is all the press release yields.

Are they hiding anything? Yes, a surprising success. After some spreadsheet work and a little back and forth with BMW headquarters, we now can also add the official numbers for Rolls Royce: 88.8 percent growth year-to-date, a phenomenal number. Luxury is alive and well.

BMW Group May 2011 Results

May ’11May ’10GrowthYTD ’11YTD ’10GrowthBMW Group Automobiles147,563120,85422.1%667,511553,03320.7%BMW121,168101,82219.0%555,429465,96419.2%MINI26,10418,84838.5%110,80286,09328.7%Rolls Royce29122032.3%1,28067888.8%BMW Motorrad12,56812,1433.5%48,74945,4327.3%Husqvarna Motorcycles5371,326-59.5%3,0803,607-14.6%

Black: Published data. Grey: Calculated data. Blue: Calculated data corrected by BMW

#BertelSchmitt #BMW #China #Germany #Sales #SalesMay2011

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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SCE to AUX on Jun 08, 2011

BMW's reliability is terrible, which has to catch up with them someday.

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- MikeAR on Jun 08, 2011
  
  It's been going down for years and the styling has gotten worse too and they haven't been hurt by it yet.
  
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- Cole on Jun 08, 2011
  
  @MikeAR That's a lot of Rolls-Royces.
  
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The Comedian on Jun 08, 2011

They bought a sale from me in May with the ridiculous 24 month lease offer on a Z4 35is. There is, however, absolutely no chance that I will be bucking up the residual to keep the car after the lease is up. I even quoted an old TTAC article about the leasing companyies' folly of artificially high residuals when discussing the deal on bimmerfest. http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6101040&postcount=32

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