July 2013: BMW Group U.S.

[William Maley]

BMW Group U.S. Reports July 2013 Sales

• BMW brand sales up 12.9 percent
• MINI brand sales up 1.6 percent, best July ever

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., Aug. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported July sales of 29,993 vehicles, an increase of 10.5 percent from the 27,152 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, the BMW Group (BMW and MINI combined) is up 9.2 percent on sales of 202,780 in the first seven months of 2013 compared to 185,715 in the same period in 2012.

"July is a pivotal month, setting the trend for the second half of the year and the numbers show the trend is with us" said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America, LLC. "We have a strong line-up of new vehicles to launch in the months ahead led by the all-new X5, which started production today, and the beautiful BMW 4 Series Coupe which arrives in the fall."

BMW Brand Sales
Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 12.9 percent in July for a total of 24,043 compared to 21,297 vehicles sold in July, 2012. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 11.3 percent on sales of 164,474 compared to 147,801 sold in the first seven months of 2012.

In July, best performing vehicles included the 1 Series, up 60.7 percent to 609 units; the 3 Series, up 29.2 percent to 9,890 units; the Z4 Roadster, up 25.4 percent to 217 units and the X5 SAV, up 17.1 percent to 2,674 units.

MINI Brand Sales – best July ever
MINI USA reported the best July ever with sales of 5,950 automobiles, an increase of 1.6 percent from the 5,855 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI sales in the U.S. are up 1.0 percent on volume of 38,306 compared to 37,914 in the first seven months of 2012.

"We like to say the world is becoming more MINI and the record sales figures for July and year-to-date prove that interest in the premium small car segment continues to grow and that people can think small," said Jim McDowell, Vice President, MINI USA. "We are especially pleased with the sales performance of the MINI Countryman model that continues to bring new motorers to our growing MINI family."

[regfootball]

i see buttloads of X1's around here. they look like wagons to me. but they are crossovers for the sheeple.

[Guest potluck]

just think.. in a year's time, the BMW brand will be even more diluted

[regfootball]

yup. lots of FWD and soccer mom cruisers

[balthazar]

Wonder how long they are going to persist with the flop that is the 1series?

BMW is a fitting illustration of the fallacy of the theory that people 'trade up' from the entry-level model (1) thru the 7series. Here we see no one buys the 1, the 3 sells well, they 'lose' fully half their customers at 5-series time, and they lose 80% of THAT at 7-series time. See; a fallacy.

[Drew Dowdell]

well for the theory to work, there would have to be a great amount of economic upward mobility in this country. For most people, that no longer exists.

The 1-series is too small to be practical for most people. The 3-series is for when people are feeling rich after the lease on their Civic is up, they don't have kids yet, and BMW is running lease specials on the loss leader equipped models.

[David]

Here the 1 series sit on the lots due to all the high tech workers go right into the 3 series if BMW is what they want or the 5 series, like most places the 7 series is seen but rare.

[balthazar]

BMWs don't visually register for me out & about, but if I focus, the 1 is rarer than a 6, and I always take a second to discern if it's a 3 or a 1 (Boy, are these dumb 'names').

The answer to the unasked question...

[Drew Dowdell]

Soon you'll have to discern between a 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7.

[David]

Soon you'll have to discern between a 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7.

Is that just stupid weak marketing or what? I swear that we seem to have gone to a pathetic entitlement crowd of marketing dweebs. No originality, nothing to spark passion, Anyone could have counted off these stupid numbers.

[balthazar]

The Count on Sesame Street and Fisher Price do so daily.

[A Horse With No Name]

Soon you'll have to discern between a 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7.

Sounds more like a list for Stanley plane sizes than for automobiles...

[Drew Dowdell]

Wonder how long they are going to persist with the flop that is the 1series?

BMW is a fitting illustration of the fallacy of the theory that people 'trade up' from the entry-level model (1) thru the 7series. Here we see no one buys the 1, the 3 sells well, they 'lose' fully half their customers at 5-series time, and they lose 80% of THAT at 7-series time. See; a fallacy.

Are they losing them or are they buying the same model over and over?

[David]

$1500 tune ups and $150 oil changes are enough to make me trade in for something more reasonable. I can see why BMW was forced to go to we cover all your maintenance for the first 3yrs. Only way to get their product to move. I suspect BMW and MB does more leases than any other luxury car company.

Would be interesting to stack up the numbers of all the luxury auto companies and see how much is Leases versus Purchasing with the average length of auto ownership. This would give a good insight to who has a more committed customer base I would think. At least from a real ownership standpoint.

[balthazar]

Wonder how long they are going to persist with the flop that is the 1series?

BMW is a fitting illustration of the fallacy of the theory that people 'trade up' from the entry-level model (1) thru the 7series. Here we see no one buys the 1, the 3 sells well, they 'lose' fully half their customers at 5-series time, and they lose 80% of THAT at 7-series time. See; a fallacy.

Are they losing them or are they buying the same model over and over?

See; I never understood that a person, attracted to -say here- a 3-series, buys 1 or 2 over time, then decides they want a 'larger sausage' and buys a 5-series or 2, then buys a 7 in old age. That scenario has been fed to us for decades as 'how things work'... but the numbers do NOT support that. This is why I question the vehement assertion that a luxury brand has to match every other one tier-for-tier or model-for-model. I don't believe people's preferences (aside from very tangible needs like a growing family) change that predictably or that commonly. Yes; I could certainly more readily believe that a first-time 3-series buyer would buy another (tho the stats there don't support that as a majority, either!).

In truth, the majority of all BMW buyers (this certainly applies to other brands as well) are first time buyers who DON'T return. It's surprising that that largest pool seems to always be growing, tho.

[Drew Dowdell]

I think the "move up" works more for mainstream brands. I could see someone starting with a Sonic then moving to a Cruze or Malibu, or to the Equinox when the 1st kid comes along and then Traverse when the second kid arrives. No one moves from a 3er to a 5er just because they had a kid.

[smk4565]

BMW's retention is pretty good, JD Power (2012 study) had them at 59% owner retention which is the best of any luxury brand, Mercedes is 2nd place at 57% and only the only other luxury brands to crack 50% are Lexus and Cadillac. So BMW drivers aren't fleeing the brand.

I think the trade up thing doesn't apply as much to a luxury brand, as it may from a Focus to Fusion or Civic to Accord. I would suspect a lot of 3-series drivers buy another 3-series because they like the nimble handling and don't want a big car. Also think of how the 3-series has grown in size from the 1980s to today, every generation adds a couple inches in length, a bit more width, a bit more weight. The car is evolving with the owner base (getting a bit softer as some would criticize), and the 5-series has gotten bigger too.

Despite the ATS and a revised Lexus IS, the 3-series is still up 29%, the X3 is down because the X1 took sales from it. 5-series is down probably because there is a new E-class that sells big, but they still sold 4,800 5-series that is still quite good when you consider the rival Audi or Lexus product is more like 1,500 per month.

[Robert Hall]

I think the "move up" works more for mainstream brands. I could see someone starting with a Sonic then moving to a Cruze or Malibu, or to the Equinox when the 1st kid comes along and then Traverse when the second kid arrives. No one moves from a 3er to a 5er just because they had a kid.

Anecdotal, I do have friends that moved from a 3 series to an X5 when they had kids...the guy had a 3 series 4dr, wife had a Merc ML when they married...they had twins, then traded the 3 series on an X5, then later traded the ML on an Escalade ESV. The 5 series owners I know didn't trade 3-series on them...one went from a Pathfinder to a used 5 then a new 5, another went from a Grand Am to a Volvo 240 to a used 540 then a new 5 series wagon, then another 5 series wagon, now has an A7..

Edited October 15, 2013 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[balthazar]

BMW's retention is pretty good, JD Power (2012 study) had them at 59% owner retention which is the best of any luxury brand, Mercedes is 2nd place at 57% and only the only other luxury brands to crack 50% are Lexus and Cadillac. So BMW drivers aren't fleeing the brand.

Forbes article states MB stands at 35%, and BMW is at 32%. This was measured as a result of 2011 Q2 sales (article is 2 yrs old).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2011/10/13/cars-with-the-most-brand-loyal-buyers/

Like anything, each study can & will take a different tack on the question. Look at all the different average buyer age stats out there.

[smk4565]

Forbes still stated that Mercedes was best and BMW 2nd among luxury brands. But I find their study odd since they had the Cruze so high and it was the first year it was on sale, how did they have repeat buyers within it's first year of sale?

Regardless, Mercedes and BMW have been 1-2 in luxury sales in the USA the past 5 or so years with Lexus in 3rd, and no one else is really closing the gap. Just look at this year, BMW, Mercedes and Audi are all up over 10%, so the Germans aren't really losing business. Lincoln is the only luxury brand that is shrinking and Acura is barely growing. Cadillac up 29% this year, but they also had no ATS or XTS for a lot of last year, so last year was a down year.

[balthazar]

mercedes (and to a lesser extent; BMW) are sales machines, focused primarily on volume goals. mercedees has 42 models out there, so by segment 'carpet bombing' they get a higher aggregate volume. Cadillac has less than half the number of models MB has (18). I like to see Cadillac getting back to a more 'traditionally average' volume rather than resorting to dipping down into the Malibu segment, price-wise. Focusing on sales volume is how the 3-series lost the handling/roadability crown in the entry segment to the ATS.