The BMW Group has again recorded high growth in Asia where a total of 848,826 vehicles across its three brands were sold in 2017, up 13.6% over 2016.
The Chinese market made a key contribution to this performance with just under 600,000 sales, up 15.1%. In Europe 1,101,760 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce models were sold, an increase of 0.9%.
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The Americas, however, saw a slight decrease over the year, down 2% to 451,136 units. Board chairman Harald Kruger told the group's annual accounts press conference that limited availability of BMW X models had an impact on volumes there.
He added: "In a highly competitive market, deliveries in the US dipped slightly to 353,819, down 3.5%. However in the fourth quarter a turnaround was perceptible in both the US and the Americas as a whole."
Kruger also stressed the importance – in global sourcing terms and to the US economy – of its US manufacturing plant at Spartanburg, as well as the international free trade system that underpins it.
"Spartanburg is our biggest plant. We have invested almost EUR9bn (US$11bn) in the site so far with another EUR600m (US$736.5m) to follow between 2018 and 2021. Over 70% of the vehicles produced there last year were exported, most of these to China followed by Germany.
"According to the US Department of Commerce, Plant Spartanburg is the leading US exporter by value. The US is our second largest purchasing market with a volume of EUR4.7bn (US$5.7bn). None of this would be possible without free trade."
In China, Kruger said BMW is stepping up its partnership with Brilliance as part of their joint venture and will build the new X3 in China starting in the middle of this year.
He added: "We recently signed a letter of intent for a further joint venture with Great Wall. In future we also plan to produce pure electric Mini vehicles in China."
