OREANDA-NEWS. BMW Group sales grew further in February, reaching a new all-time high level of 169,073 vehicles delivered worldwide, an increase of 3.1% compared with the same month last year. With its three premium brands, BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group has sold a total of 332,369 vehicles since the beginning of the year, up 4.9%.

“The first two months of the year have seen growth in all major sales regions, despite the model change-over of the 5 Series,” said Dr Ian Robertson, Member of the BMW AG Board of Management with responsibility for Sales and Brand BMW. “February was an important month for us, with the market launch of the new BMW 5 Series. Initial sales of this benchmark car are strong and we’re confident that this model in particular will ensure increasing momentum as the year continues,” he added.

Sales of BMW brand vehicles grew 3.0% compared with February last year; a total of 147,789 BMWs were delivered to customers around the world. Sales for the brand so far this year total 291,347, an increase of 5.0%. Many models throughout the range contributed to this growth: in the first two months of the year, deliveries of the BMW X1 are up 36.1% (39,304), sales of the BMW X5 are up 15.8% (28,213) while deliveries of the flagship BMW 7 Series are up 34.7% (8,763).

Sales of the BMW Group’s range of electrified vehicles have shown very strong growth in the year-to-date, reflecting increasing customer interest in alternative drivetrain vehicles. Since the beginning of the year, more than 10,000 electrified vehicles have been delivered to customers worldwide, an increase of 110.1% on the same period last year. Sales of electrified models are set to increase still further with the introduction of the plug-in hybrid BMW 530e iPerformance, which goes on sale in mid-March, and the MINI Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 plug-in hybrid which will start delivery in June.

MINI also achieved increased sales in February: with a total of 21,045 vehicles delivered to customers around the world, sales were up 3.2% compared with the same month last year. MINI sales in the year-to-date are up 3.5% (40,611). The MINI Convertible (3,308 / +590.6%) and the MINI Clubman (7,630 / +37.4%) were the brand’s main growth drivers. The brand is set to grow still further during the year with the market launch of the MINI Countryman being rolled out from February.

In line with the BMW Group’s long-term policy of balanced global sales, all major sales regions have seen growth so far this year.

Deliveries of BMW and MINI in Europe are up 3.3% (138,666) in the first two months of the year. Growth was achieved in almost all markets in the region with sales in the UK up 4.4% (17,584) and deliveries in France climbing 6.3% (12,937).

Sales of BMW and MINI vehicles in Asia grew 9.0% in the year-to-date with 123,851 vehicles delivered to customers. Sales in the region’s largest market, Mainland China, rose 14.7% (92,045).

Overall BMW and MINI sales in the Americas remained stable with a 0.2% increase (58,277) compared with the first two months of last year. In the USA, a total of 45,931 vehicles were delivered to customers (-1.6%) while Canada grew sales by 2.5% (5,320).