BMW USA Reports November 2017 Sales

[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW USA Reports November 2017 Sales

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Woodcliff Lake, NJ – December 1, 2017… Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 7.1 percent in November for a total of 28,049 compared to 26,189 vehicles sold in November 2016. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is down 3.2 percent in the U.S. on sales of 271,432 vehicles compared to 280,339 sold in the first 11 months of 2016.

Notable vehicle sales in November included the BMW 5 Series, which maintained its momentum and showed strong gains for the fifth straight month, selling 4,002 vehicles. November was also a particularly good month for Sports Activity Vehicles, specifically the BMW X5 and the all-new BMW X3. Sales of the BMW X5 increased 17.5 percent to 5,515 vehicles, while the BMW X3 sold 3,087 vehicles in its first half-month of availability.

“November ended in a strong way for us at BMW. This week at the LA Auto Show, we gave everyone a view of what’s to come and now the November sales result has given us the perfect lead-in to what is always the most important sales month of the year, December,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “The indicators for the coming months give us optimism especially as the popular new X3 is now launching across the U.S., the new 5 Series continues building momentum, and BMW Group electrified vehicles accounted for nearly 6% of sales in November.”

MINI Brand Sales
For November, MINI USA reported 4,038 vehicles sold, a decrease of 10.4 percent from the 4,507 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a total of 42,494 vehicles sold, a decrease of 10.3 percent from 47,372 vehicles sold in the first 11 months of 2016.

BMW Group Sales
In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported November sales of 32,087 vehicles, an increase of 4.5 percent from the 30,696 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are down 4.2 percent on sales of 313,926 vehicles in the first 11 months of 2017 compared to 327,711 in the same period in 2016.

BMW Group Electrified Vehicle Sales
Sales of BMW Group electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increased 27.8 percent to 18,416 through November 2017 (YTD), accounting for 5.9 percent of total BMW Group sales in the U.S. BMW offers six electrified vehicle models in the U.S., including the BMW i3 and BMW i8, as well as the BMW i Performance models: BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 740e and the BMW X5 xDrive 40e. MINI offers the MINI Countryman plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle, which launched in June 2017.






BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles

• In November, BMW Certified Pre-Owned sold 9,718 vehicles, a decrease of 8.4 percent from November 2016.
• Total BMW Pre-Owned sold 18,175 vehicles, a decrease of 9.1 percent from November 2016.
• Total BMW Pre-Owned cars sold year-to-date were 217,044, a 3.1 percent increase from the first 11 months of 2016.

MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles

• In November, MINI Certified Pre-Owned sold 744 vehicles, a decrease of 19 percent from November 2016.
• Total MINI Pre-Owned sold 2,146 vehicles in November 2017, a decrease of 5.3 percent from November 2016.
• Total MINI Pre-Owned sales year-to-date were 27,750, a 6.6 percent increase from the first 11 months of 2016.

[kozzi]

In before the posts come that BMW is headed down the spiral stair of destruction.

Way to go 5 series.

[Laki021]

Pleasant surprise!

Now I expect more months like this. 5 series is finally fully available and more people realize how great the car is, while the all new X3 has been sold out for the next 6 months. For BMW it is convenient that many buyers don't realize that next year there is a new X5 coming out, so the sales of the X5 are still blooming
Good work is finally paying off.

[Ibiza]

The incentive money for the 3 series of $3,000 Northeast/South/Central and $2,000 West proped up sales. Surprisingly, 4 series dropped despite being a positive for October's sales numbers. Maybe Holiday incentive of only $2,000.

The Holiday & Loyalty credit across the model range is what pushed sales numbers up.

CPO is down significantly since the CPO warranty changes; this is not a good sign for BMW FS with the significant number off lease vehicles returns. I personally have 2 lease returns within the next 32 days. When does BMW NA change the CPO warranty terms to improve sales?

What these numbers tell me that BMW NA needs incentives to drive sales with diminished residual values and increasing MF. Not a long term viable business model, unless MRSP is raised to offset the credit/rebates. Should be interesting for Jan 2018 numbers in 2 months after the Holiday cash promo ceases how sales are then. Time will tell.....

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by Ibiza

The incentive money for the 3 series of $3,000 Northeast/South/Central and $2,000 West proped up sales. Surprisingly, 4 series dropped despite being a positive for October's sales numbers. Maybe Holiday incentive of only $2,000.

The Holiday & Loyalty credit across the model range is what pushed sales numbers up.

CPO is down significantly since the CPO warranty changes; this is not a good sign for BMW FS with the significant number off lease vehicles returns. I personally have 2 lease returns within the next 32 days. When does BMW NA change the CPO warranty terms to improve sales?

What these numbers tell me that BMW NA needs incentives to drive sales with diminished residual values and increasing MF. Not a long term viable business model, unless MRSP is raised to offset the credit/rebates. Should be interesting for Jan 2018 numbers in 2 months after the Holiday cash promo ceases how sales are then. Time will tell.....

Agreed. The only reason I have a new M3 was the great incentives in November 2017.

[Anthony3DHeli]

I am not from US, why vehicle's sales are down all year? just pick up the pace a little now in November! :

[phoenixbmwlife]

This past June Shaun Bugbee assumed the role of Executive Vice President, Operations with which he was responsible for all BMW sales operations within the U.S.

Now I have been saying this for a while now that all these declining sales will only be tolerated for so long. Lessening the incentives, and making it more expensive to lease a BMW is not a long term solution.

Here's the challenge with BMW NA. The depreciation of the brand after 3 - 4 years is so high, that the lease returns were being sent to the auction, and they were losing money on the whole. Go look at the Mannheim numbers on a 3 year old 3 or 5 series and you will see what I mean. When you calculate the money made during the lease and then afterwards at the auction, the profits were going down with the lease return because of the depreciation. But that was sure to happen because when you flood more cars in the market the supply must affect the demand.

So they did what they believed would counter that which was to lessen the maintenance time from 4 years 50,000 miles, to 3 years 36,000 miles while removing things that were included in the "Ultimate Maintenance" like brake pads etc.

But after bringing in so many new customers from the years of the free maintenance, many have left the brand because their purchase was driven by the deal rather than for the brand.

Same thing applies for the incentives. BMW was giving such amazing incentives with the money factor low and residuals high in the past. This made fans used to a certain amount to pay for the car but all that changed as the residuals went down and the interest rates went up. The price to lease the same car after the lease was over went up significantly. Because again the reason was the same. BMW was losing money on the lease returns so they had to do something different.

Now obviously that was an oversimplification of what's going on but all of this to say, who ever is really in charge of NA sales, be it Shaun Bugbee or someone else, these declines in sales are horrible when you look at the sales of NA cars on the whole has been going up. And since these declines are month after month it's not a hiccup, it's a momentum. They must make some serious changes if they want to keep their job.

Just my opinion.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by phoenixbmwlife

This past June Shaun Bugbee assumed the role of Executive Vice President, Operations with which he was responsible for all BMW sales operations within the U.S.

Now I have been saying this for a while now that all these declining sales will only be tolerated for so long. Lessening the incentives, and making it more expensive to lease a BMW is not a long term solution.

Here's the challenge with BMW NA. The depreciation of the brand after 3 - 4 years is so high, that the lease returns were being sent to the auction, and they were losing money on the whole. Go look at the Mannheim numbers on a 3 year old 3 or 5 series and you will see what I mean. When you calculate the money made during the lease and then afterwards at the auction, the profits were going down with the lease return because of the depreciation. But that was sure to happen because when you flood more cars in the market the supply must affect the demand.

So they did what they believed would counter that which was to lessen the maintenance time from 4 years 50,000 miles, to 3 years 36,000 miles while removing things that were included in the "Ultimate Maintenance" like brake pads etc.

But after bringing in so many new customers from the years of the free maintenance, many have left the brand because their purchase was driven by the deal rather than for the brand.

Same thing applies for the incentives. BMW was giving such amazing incentives with the money factor low and residuals high in the past. This made fans used to a certain amount to pay for the car but all that changed as the residuals went down and the interest rates went up. The price to lease the same car after the lease was over went up significantly. Because again the reason was the same. BMW was losing money on the lease returns so they had to do something different.

Now obviously that was an oversimplification of what's going on but all of this to say, who ever is really in charge of NA sales, be it Shaun Bugbee or someone else, these declines in sales are horrible when you look at the sales of NA cars on the whole has been going up. And since these declines are month after month it's not a hiccup, it's a momentum. They must make some serious changes if they want to keep their job.

Just my opinion.

Their strategy in the US is flawed and its showing month after month... unfortunately at this point, I would have no idea how to fix it.

[BoosTonian]

i3 and i8 are laying eggs.

How is the 5 selling compared to a6 and e-class?

[dmboone25]

Down in the US again...whatever they’re doing, it’s not working.

But I’m sure folks will be able to pick up a cheap i3, that beacon of efficiency or ugliness (take your pick) on the cheap whenever they go back on sale.

[Arcades]

Hey look at it this way, least it is better than the Giulia at 756 for November eh?

[dmboone25]

Originally Posted by BoosTonian

i3 and i8 are laying eggs.

How is the 5 selling compared to a6 and e-class?

But the “new” i8 has a coupe badge ! And two-tone paint on the hood !

Bear in mind it’s not a standard in any category, but by god they think those changes are gonna make a difference baby !

[PawnStar]

so how many of the ‘sold’ cars were ‘executive demos’ which were never sold to retail customers but wholesaled at dealer auctions?

[Laki021]

Guys, are we reading the same article?

Let me highlight the important part:

"Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 7.1 percent in November. "


So, the sales are UP, not down!

I'm sure that they had some incentives in November, but I bet, they had something last year in November as well...

It's pretty simple, the 5 and the new X3 are at a full swing, in the next months things are only gonna get better. They successfully absorbed the impact of increasing the prices (so that they don't get in trouble because of high residuals and loose money, it's better not to sell a car then to sell it with a loss) and now, thanks to the new models are back on the path of the organic growth.

[wesleyan92]

Originally Posted by BoosTonian

i3 and i8 are laying eggs.

How is the 5 selling compared to a6 and e-class?

http://carsalesbase.com/us-sales-q3-...large-segment/

The E-Class has been beating up the 5 the last 2 years and this year; i think part of the reason is that the count includes the E-class coupe. Audi is not even in the same ballpark as the 5 (even with the outgoing F10).

Surprised to see the crappy Lexus ES with such good volumes

[firedown31]

Originally Posted by Laki021

I'm sure that they had some incentives in November, but I bet, they had something last year in November as well...

For the MY17 3/4 series 1 year ago
http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...&postcount=746

The only incentives on MY17s was a $1000 loyalty lease credit.



For the MY18 3/4 series from last month
http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...postcount=1286


All 3 series including m
loyalty lease/APR: 1500
Holiday lease credit (lease) 2000

All 4 series including M
loyalty lease/APR: 750
Holiday lease credit (lease) 2000


And note, the $2000 was only for the west coast, everywhere else in the country had a $3000 incentive instead. So much better incentives this time around.

[rich8566]

No M car breakdown? How can I get those stats?

[phoenixbmwlife]

Originally Posted by Laki021

Guys, are we reading the same article?

Let me highlight the important part:

"Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 7.1 percent in November. "


So, the sales are UP, not down!

I'm sure that they had some incentives in November, but I bet, they had something last year in November as well...

It's pretty simple, the 5 and the new X3 are at a full swing, in the next months things are only gonna get better. They successfully absorbed the impact of increasing the prices (so that they don't get in trouble because of high residuals and loose money, it's better not to sell a car then to sell it with a loss) and now, thanks to the new models are back on the path of the organic growth.

We are talking about NA sales.
If you read the article and are apprised with North America Sales for a long while now, sales have gone down. We're not talking about the rest of the world. It's great that sales are up globally but there is definitely something not right with BMW sales in the US, when sales on the whole are up in North America, but consistently down for BMW.

[Laki021]

No, the article clearly states that the sales in November in NA are UP 7.2% compared to the November a year ago...

All the data is NA only.

[phoenixbmwlife]

Originally Posted by Laki021

No, the article clearly states that the sales in November in NA are UP 7.2% compared to the November a year ago...

All the data is NA only.

November is up slightly yes. But sales are still down on the whole in NA.

"Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are down 4.2 percent on sales of 313,926 vehicles in the first 11 months of 2017 compared to 327,711 in the same period in 2016."

[Laki021]

That is clear and that is the old news...

November is a great comeback, thanks to the start of sales of the new X3 and the full availability of the 5 series.
Better months are coming...

[BMW F22]

Doubt their sales will reverse course. Remember that November and December are typically great months for auto sales due to end of year sales. X3 sales are down 30% meaning the new X3 hasn't had any effect yet. 3, 5, X4, X5 sales have been increasing which helped the declining sales. We'll see how sales do for the month of January 2018. If December and January continue to increase then we can say that BMW is heading down the right path. If not, then November (and maybe December) is a glitch, not a trend as their year to date is still down (which has been a trend for months).