The car manufacturers BMW and Volkswagen sold more cars again in 2023 after years of crisis. The Munich car manufacturer even delivered more cars than ever before: global sales rose by 6.5 percent to around 2.55 million vehicles, as the company announced on Tuesday.
Significant increase in sales of electric cars
Paragraph fully electric cars (BEV) increased by 74 percent to 376,000 vehicles. This means that BMW has grown faster in this segment than the overall market and has achieved a share of 15 percent of the group’s total sales, said new sales director Jochen Goller.
This year, BMW wants to sell more than half a million BEVs and increase its share of total sales to around 20 percent. “We continue to see high demand for our fully electric products,” said Goller, referring to 18 BEV models in the group’s offering.
High demand for luxury models like X7
In addition to electric cars, the main drivers were luxury models such as the 7 series and the large X7 SUV. Demand for the particularly high-powered, expensive BMW M models reached a record level. The luxury brand Rolls-Royce handed over 6,032 automobiles to its customers last year – also a record number. The value of the custom-made products, which are made by hand in Goodwood, England, according to individual customer requirements, has increased significantly.
The core brand BMW also reached a record high with an increase of 7.3 percent to 2.3 million vehicles delivered worldwide in 2023. The Mini brand grew by almost one percent and sold 295,000 cars. In its 100th year of founding, BMW Motorrad achieved a record with growth of a good 3 percent to 209,000 motorcycles and scooters.
All regions contributed to the car manufacturer’s record sales. In China it grew by 4.2 percent, in Europe by 7.5 percent and in the USA by 9.4 percent. In 2022 and also in the first quarter of 2023, a lack of semiconductors, delivery bottlenecks and corona lockdowns in China caused BMW’s sales figures to shrink, but then things got better and better. In the final quarter, global sales rose by 10 percent to 719,000 cars.
VW sales manager expects a challenging market environment
The car manufacturer Volkswagen also increased sales with its core brand VW Passenger Cars last year. Compared to the weak previous year, deliveries to end customers increased by 6.7 percent to 4.9 million cars, as the Wolfsburg-based company announced on Tuesday. Sales manager Imelda Labbe (57) sees the company on the right track. “We expect the market environment to continue to be challenging in 2024,” she said. “But with our revised and attractive product portfolio, we are in the right position.” In previous years, the corona pandemic and delivery difficulties for individual parts such as electronic chips had slowed sales.
The share of electric cars in total sales remains expandable
In 2023, deliveries of fully electric cars at VW rose by 21.1 percent to around 394,000 cars. The battery cars represented around 8 percent of total sales. This means that Volkswagen is not yet as advanced as a mass manufacturer as others – for comparison: in the BMW Group, electric cars already accounted for 15 percent of total sales last year. Especially in the more expensive segment, the more expensive electric cars are easier to sell; the range of affordable entry-level electric cars is still rare on the market.
The city off-road vehicles (SUVs) also provided VW with a boost. The overall share rose to a good 54 percent worldwide; in the USA, four out of five cars sold were SUVs.