BMW has become the best-selling premium brand in the world, with global sales figures for 2021 revealing a 9.1 per cent increase. BMW Group sales are also up over eight per cent.
During 2021, BMW Group sold 2,521,525 vehicles around the world, which is up 8.4 per cent on 2020 efforts. That includes brands MINI and Rolls-Royce. The company says it is optimistic about continuing growth in 2022, especially with a fleet of new electric models set for release.
BMW brand sales are at an all-time record high, posting 2,213,795 sales around the world. That’s up 9.1 per cent on 2020. It’s also enough to surpass all other global premium auto brands, with key rival Mercedes-Benz posting 2,093,476 sales for the year.
Of those, BMW M contributed 163,542 sales, which is a 13.4 per cent rise on 2020. This is an all-time sales record for the performance sub-brand as well. The company says the new M3 and M4 performed particularly well, while rising X5 M and X6 M sales also contributed.
Fully electric vehicle sales also made up 103,855 units for BMW brand, which is up a whopping 133.2 per cent. It says one in 10 X3 models sold globally was fully electric, with the iX3 reporting 37,939 units. The i3 also added 28,216 units. BMW says it will launch the fully electric 7 Series and X1 this year to further bolster its electric vehicle fleet.
China was the biggest single market region for BMW Group, with sales topping 846,237 units. That’s a record for the region, and up 8.9 per cent on 2020. Sales in the USA reached 336,644 units, which is a 20.8 per cent increase on 2020 and on par with pre-pandemic 2019 efforts. Europe overall reported 948,087 sales, up 3.9 per cent. Speaking about the yearly results, board member for brands and sales at BMW AG, Pieter Nota, said:
“Despite supply bottlenecks and the continuing coronavirus pandemic, we achieved a strong sales performance in 2021, thanks to a powerful operational performance and stellar product line-up. Our brands reported numerous all-time best sales results around the globe – spearheaded by the BMW brand, which is number one in the global premium segment.”
In Australia, BMW sold 24,891 vehicles, according to VFACTS figures. That’s up 5.8 per cent on 2020. BMW sits in second place for premium brands here, behind Mercedes-Benz (28,348, down 3.8 per cent). The best-selling model was the X3 mid-size SUV, contributing 4242 units (down 2.7 per cent), followed by the 3 Series with 3982 sales (up 16.9 per cent), and then the X5 with 3173 units (up 7.3 per cent).
