BMW Group increases sales by 22.1% in May

Most successful May ever for BMW Group sales

Solid double-digit growth across Europe, America and Asia

Munich. The BMW Group is well on its way to a record year with another all-time sales high for the month of May. A total of 147,563 BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce brand vehicles were delivered to customers (prev. yr. 120,850/ +22.1%). Deliveries for the year to the end of May climbed 20.7% to 667,511 vehicles (prev. yr. 552,866).

Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Sales and Marketing: “This was the most successful May the company has ever reported in sales. Our young vehicle portfolio continues to perform strongly and we are seeing healthy balanced growth worldwide. There is a strong demand for BMW X vehicles and the BMW 5 Series, which has further strengthened its position as segment leader. Robertson added: “We are looking forward to even more momentum at the end of the year with the September launch of the new BMW 1 Series in Europe. We are well on course to maintain our position as the world’s leading manufacturer of premium vehicles throughout 2011.”

The BMW Group made strong retail gains across the globe, driven by its three most important markets Germany, USA and China. In the German market 29,372 (prev.yr. 22,993/ +27.7%) BMW Group vehicles were registered in May. Sales continued to increase in the U.S. with the delivery of 26,452 (prev. yr. 22,092/ +19.7%) vehicles in May. In Mainland China, 21,150 customers took delivery of a new BMW Group vehicle (prev. yr. 13,998 units/ +51.1%). Solid double-digit growth was also reported by the Group in all major European markets in May, as well as in the so-called BRIKT markets: Brazil (+57.3%), Russia (58.3%), India (+160.9%), Korea (+49.1%) and Turkey (130.2%).

Regarding the individual brands: BMW brand volumes increased by 19% in May to 121,168 vehicles (prev. yr. 101,781). Sales of BMW brand vehicles were 19.2% higher than the previous year at 555,429 units (466,088) at the end of May.

The new BMW X3 continued to perform strongly in May with 10,182 units sold (prev. yr. 4,371/ +132.9%) and the BMW 5 Series solidified its position as the segment leader with total sales of 26,457 vehicles (prev. yr. 16,186/ +63.5%).

The MINI brand also had a very successful May. Sales climbed to 26,104 vehicles (prev. yr. 18,849) – an increase of 38.5% over the same period last year. The number of MINI vehicles through May rose this year to 110,802 (prev. yr. 86,100/ +28.7%) vehicles. The MINI Countryman has now been launched in all markets and is expected to boost MINI to a record sales year in 2011.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars saw sustained sales growth in all markets during the period.

BMW Motorrad: Global sales rose by 3.5% to 12,568 units in May. Worldwide a total of 48.749 BMW motorcycles were delivered to customers in the year to the end of May 2011. This represents an increase of 7.3% year-on-year. The strongest market for BMW Motorrad is Germany with 9,496 deliveries (prev. yr. 7,240 / +31.1%) per Mai.

Husqvarna Motorcycles delivered 3,080 motorcycles (-4.6%) in the first five months of the year. 537 motorcycles were delivered in May (-59,5%).

BMW Group sales in/up to May 2011 at a glance

The BMW Group

With its three brands – BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce – the BMW Group is one of the world’s most successful premium manufacturers of cars and motorcycles. It operates internationally with 24 production sites in 13 countries and a global sales network with representation in more than 140 countries.

During the financial year 2010, the BMW Group sold 1.46 million cars and more than 110,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for 2010 was euro 4.8 billion on revenues amounting to euro 60.5 billion. At 31 December 2010, the BMW Group had a workforce of approximately 95,500 employees.

Long-term thinking and responsible action have long been the foundation of the BMW Group’s success. Striving for ecological and social sustainability along the entire value-added chain, taking full responsibility for our products and giving an unequivocal commitment to preserving resources are prime objectives firmly embedded in our corporate strategies. For these reasons, the BMW Group has been sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for the last six years.