General BMW BMW US Reports Increase in Sales for September 2009

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – For the first time this year, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported an increase in sales compared to the same month last year. In September, sales increased by 3.6 percent to 19,175 units compared to 18,506 vehicles sold in September 2008. The BMW Group also reported a year-to-date sales volume of 179,219 vehicles, down 24.2 percent, compared to 236,327 vehicles sold in the first nine months of last year.

BMW Brand Sales
Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 2.1 percent in September for a total of 15,047 vehicles compared to 14,744 vehicles reported in the same month a year ago driven by strong passenger car sales. BMW's sports activity vehicles saw a decline compared to last year in part due to limited inventory of the X5 after the better than expected Advanced Diesel X5 model sales volume. Year-to-date, BMW brand sales were down 26.3 percent to 144,223 vehicles compared to 195,633 vehicles sold in the same period of 2008.

"For now, we'll take this first small bit of good news but the premium segment is not out of the woods yet as consumers keep on reacting cautiously to the mixed signals in the economy," said Jim O'Donnell, President of BMW of North America, LLC. "For BMW, we expect the bumpy road to continue into next quarter in advance of 2010, when we see consumer confidence improving and a major launch of new BMW products start to hit the market."

BMW Certified Pre-Owned (CPO)
In September, dealers continued to see good interest in pre-owned vehicles. Sales of BMW's Certified Pre-Owned vehicles increased 4.2 percent, to 8,033 CPO vehicles versus 7,707 vehicles reported in September a year ago. Year-to-date, CPO sales were up 9.6 percent, to 84,515 over the 77,144 reported in the same period of 2008.

MINI Brand Sales
MINI USA reported sales of 4,128 automobiles an increase of 9.7% compared to 3,762 cars reported in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA also reported sales of 34,996 automobiles, a decrease of 14 percent, compared to the 40,694 cars reported in the first nine months of 2008.

"September was another unique 'out of wack' month as many dealers reported fewer shoppers and tire-kickers after the end of the 'Cash for Clunkers' program," said Jim McDowell, Vice President MINI USA. "MINI has been fortunate to counter this climate with higher sales compared to last September and serious buyers helping the brand to continuously increase its market share."

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The BMW offered incentives didn't hurt either.

Meanwhile, Toyota is burning through the bailout money they received from the Japanese government with plummeting sales. It's all good news.

With only 251 X6 sold in September 09, BMW NEED to heavily discount the X6 to clear inventory...similar to the 09 7er $6k discount or even more.