BMW Group says it delivered 142,950 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles in September, up 16.8% compared to the same month last year.
In the period up to and including September and to the end of the third quarter, a total of 1,062,216 vehicles were supplied – an increase of 13.1% from the same period last year.
“Growth was encouragingly strong in September, with gains on most of our markets,” said BMW sales director Ian Robertson.
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“We have exceptional new products and intend to maintain this upward trend throughout the fourth quarter. Here, we expect to see robust growth in the double-digit percentage range. “BMW Group retail has exceeded our expectations so far this year. We are confident to deliver more than 1.4m vehicles over the course of 2010.”
The main growth drivers were once again the large model series, with the strongest gains in September by the BMW 5 Series Sedan with an increase in volumes of 63.1% to 19,184 units.
The new BMW 5 Series Touring was launched recently and BMW says orders for the new model look “very promising.” A total of 2,872 customers received BMW 5 Series GTs in September, while 5,491 buyers purchased a BMW 7 Series, up 26.6%.
Last month, 10,049 BMW X1 vehicles were delivered to customers, while sales of the BMW X5 were at a similar level – climbing 48% to 10,807 units. A total of 4,491 BMW X6 models were delivered to customers in September, an increase of 16.7%.
“A further highlight this autumn will be the new BMW X3, which will be coming onto the market in Europe in late November,” said Robertson.
“The first BMW X3 created a new segment in 2004 and rapidly became a best-seller. I am confident the new model will continue this success story.”
The Mini brand also increased its sales volume with the vehicle reporting its best September result ever with 25,222 deliveries, up 1.9%.
A major contributor, says BMW, was the new Mini Countryman which launched mid-month. In the period up to and including September, 167,751 Mini cars were delivered worldwide, up 3.8%.
In the month under review, the BMW Group increased retail volumes in its three largest markets of Germany, the US and China among others. In Germany’s still- declining overall market -17.8% – the company reported 16.6% more new vehicle registrations at 21,452 cars and was able to expand both its BMW and Mini brands’ market share.
Strong growth was also reported in the US, where the company sold 20.5% more vehicles than in September 2009 at 23,112 deliveries.
A total of 192,052 BMW and Mini vehicles were delivered to customers in the US in the year to the end of September, an increase of 7.2%.
With an 89.1% increase in volumes, China’s growth rate also remained high in the month under review – 15,379 models compared to 8,131 the previous year. China is now the BMW Group’s third-largest market. Compared with the same period last year, sales virtually doubled, due to growth of 95.3% to 121,826 vehicles.
Deliveries of the Phantom and Ghost Rolls-Royce models rose 422% to 261 units in September. Between January and September a total of 1,728 vehicles were delivered compared to a comparable figure of 461 cars.
