BMW Group annual sales set a new record for the fifth year in a row.
A total of 2,247,485 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles were delivered to customers around the world last year, an increase of 6.1% on the previous year. December 2015 saw 213,537 vehicles sold, a year on year dip of 0.8%.
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BMW also achieved a fifth consecutive annual sales record with the core brand delivering 1,905,234 vehicles to customers in 2015, an increase of 5.2%. The brand's sales for December dipped 0.7% to 176,681.
BMW i sales increased 65.9% in 2015 to 29,513 units delivered – 24,057 i3s (+49.9%) and 5,456 i8.
Mini set an annual sales last year with 338,466 vehicles delivered, an increase of 12%. Three-door model sales rose 0.2% to 127,194 while 94,788 five door versions were sold. The redesigned Clubman, on sale in October, achieved 8,003 sales.
Rolls-Royce reported the second highest sales record in the brand's 112-year history, delivering 3,785 units (-6.8%) during 2015. Strong sales were reported worldwide, with the exception of mainland China "where significant headwinds have impacted on the entire luxury sector", the automaker said.
The group achieved an increase in deliveries in all major sales regions in 2015.
Europe was a significant growth driver with annual BMW/Mini sales totalling 999,669 (+9.4%). Many markets in the region achieved double-digit sales growth in 2015 with deliveries in Great Britain, the fourth largest market, up 12.7% (230,652) whilst sales in France increased 15.0% (77,577). Southern European markets also continued recovering well with sales up 19.2% (45,550) in Spain and 12.3% (71,173) in Italy.
The Americas achieved a 2.8% increase in 2015 with 494,629 units delivered to customers in the region. In 2015, 404,537 cars were sold to customers in the US (+2.2%) while sales in Canada climbed 10.1% to 42,052 and Mexico achieved a sales increase of 17.3% (17,475).
In Asia, sales increased 4.2% in 2015, with 684,121 vehicles sold in the region. In 2015, 463,736 were sold in mainland China (+1.7%). In South Korea, 54,575 sales was an increase of 17.6% while sales in Japan rose 8.1% to 69,199.
"In 2015, we launched a total of 15 new or refreshed models and our results show that these innovative new vehicles are popular with customers," said group sales and marketing head Ian Robertson.
"Our sales grew consistently throughout the year, despite headwinds in some markets. We expect many of those challenges to continue into 2016, so it's important we continue to respond flexibly to market conditions in order to maintain our success."
