German luxury carmaker BMW has registered strong growth in the sales of EVs and upper-premium segment vehicles in H1 CY24, globally. With global sales of 179,557 units of EVs, sold under its sub-brand ‘BMW i’, the company claims having achieved a significant 34.1 percent year-on-year growth in volumes in the first six months of the calendar. Despite global trends of EV sales slowdown, the company registered a noticeable 24.6 percent YoY growth in EV volumes, totalling at 190,622 units.
Overall, the BMW brand grew by 2.3 percent YoY compared to the previous year’s six-month period from January to June 2023 by clocking sales of 1,096,486 units across all international markets, thereby outperforming its key rivals, and signficantly gaining market share, particularly in Europe. In total, the BMW Group delivered 1,213,359 vehicles of the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands in the first half of the year.
According to Jochen Goller, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands, Sales, “Despite a challenging market environment, we increased sales for the BMW brand in the first half of the year, thanks to our attractive product portfolio. The strong commitment of our BMW Group employees and our robust global retail network have made a significant contribution in this regard.”
“In the first six months of the year, we saw double-digit growth of our fully-electric vehicles and models from the upper premium segment,” he added.
The company says that for the BMW brand, upper-premium segment vehicles like the 7 Series are increasingly becoming popular among consumers, globally, with the company’s flagship sedan resgistering a notable 22 percent YoY growth in H1 CY24. The BMW X1 and BMW 3 Series also saw strong growth compared to the previous year.
The German automaker’s performance BMW M sub-brand also performed well, registering total volumes of 99,517 vehicles, and recording a sales growth of +5.1%. The company says that BMW M generated strong interest with customers and enthusiasts with its latest reveal – the electrified BMW M5 sedan earlier in June.
With the continuing model changeover of its complete product portfolio, the Mini brand delivered 114,054 vehicles in the first hal of the year. This includes the first Mini Cooper cars from the New Mini Family, which, it claims, received a very good response from customers. The further ramp-up of the Mini Cooper and Mini Countryman, as well as the market launch of the Mini Aceman, will provide positive momentum in the second half of the year.
The Rolls Royce brand, on the other hand, delivered a total of 2,819 cars to customers worldwide, with the Cullinan Series-II being a highlight for the Rolls Royce brand, and the most sought-after product in the premium luxury brand’s portfolio. With respect to two-wheelers, BMW Motorrad handed over 113,072 motorcycles and scooters to customers worldwide during the same period.
According to the company, the BMW Group is looking forward to the second half of 2024 with confidence. This is underpinned by the full availability of the BMW 5 Series models – including the new BMW 5 Series Touring and the first BMW i5 Touring, as well as the ongoing market launch of the New Mini Family. “By providing a variety of drive train technologies across the product portfolio of the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, as well as a high level of flexibility, the BMW Group is well positioned to meet varying customer preferences worldwide,” it said in a release.