BMW remains on track for slightly higher sales this year despite a dip in demand in the first quarter, including in the Chinese market, the automaker said.
BMW said it delivered 588,138 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles in the first quarter, down 1.5 percent on the previous year, while full-electric vehicle sales rose 83 percent year-on-year to 64,647 vehicles.
By region, BMW only saw sales growth in the U.S., with an 11.1 percent increase to 81,877 unit sales. Sales in China fell 6.6 percent, but the company said the Chinese economy was expected to stabilize over the course of this year.
According to BMW, a 1.9 percent fall in European sales was attributed largely to an export and production ban in the Russian market, where Chinese marques are benefiting from the exit by Western automakers.
BMW remained confident about its 2023 guidance despite a “challenging business environment,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Customer, Brands, Sales said the company’s strong product lineup continues to inspire our customers worldwide. “Our fully-electric vehicles, in particular, are benefiting from high demand around the globe. We were therefore able to maintain the dynamic pace of our electromobility ramp-up in the first quarter”.
“The BMW Group is on track for slight sales growth in the full year 2023. The main growth drivers in 2023 will be fully-electric vehicles and models from the high-end premium segment – like the new BMW i7, the new BMW 7 Series, the BMW XM and the updated BMW X7.”
Pieter Nota
BMW and its competitors are pushing to switch towards electric models to remain competitive and meet climate targets ahead of the 2035 phase-out of CO2-emitting cars in the European Union.
BMW brand’s first-quarter volume was flat at 517,957 but full-electric vehicle sales more than doubled to 55,979 on demand for the iX, i7, i4 and iX3.
The BMW Group delivered a total of 588,138 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles to customers worldwide in the first quarter of this year (-1.5%). The aftereffects of China’s receding coronavirus wave and its impact on the economic environment are still clearly being felt across all industries.
BMW Group Expects the Chinese Economy To Stabilise
The BMW Group expects the Chinese economy to stabilise over the course of the year. The sales situation in the US currently appears to be robust. In Europe, BMW Group sales were down slightly on the previous year, mainly due to the export and production ban for the Russian market. However, a clear upward trend was evident worldwide in March.
With the prospect of profitable growth in what remains a challenging business environment and with a very dynamic increase in sales of electric vehicles, the BMW Group is confident about the year 2023. This is underpinned by a strong order book overall. The BMW Group expects slight growth in deliveries to customers worldwide in the Automotive Segment in 2023.
The BMW Group also expects to see positive momentum at the top end of the market – where the company is planning for growth in the mid-double-digit percentage range. Due to localisation of the long-wheelbase version of the BMW X5 in China, the BMW Group now also has additional capacity for the X family in Spartanburg.
With the rollout of the new BMW i5 this year, the BMW Group said it will offer at least one fully-electric model in every major segment of its business and anticipates a steep growth trajectory in the coming years. By 2024, at least one in five of the company’s new vehicles should have a fully-electric drive train; by 2025, one in four newly delivered vehicles should be a BEV and, by 2026, about one in three. The BMW Group believes that, as the NEUE KLASSE ramps up with its compelling product substance, it has the potential to further accelerate the market penetration of e-mobility.
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