335d (once again) outsells 335i

I just spent a good part of the past several days going through sales data from BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and VW to better understand what I've started to call comparable model sales for diesel versus petrol models (an example being the E90 335d versus the E90 335i).

Of course it all came formatted differently but I eventually reconciled it and found some really interesting trends.

First the BMW stuff. For 2010 (thus far), BMW is number 2 in diesel volume and in the percentage of comparable model diesel models compared to the petrol variant.

In June, the E90 335d outsold the E90 335i by a ratio of 7 to 5. This was the second time this year that the oil burner outsold the petrol model. The X5 diesel outsold its petrol-powered equivalent model in May by the way.

Volkswagen sells more diesels than anyone (even combining the sales of the other three companies!) and has an amazing diesel take rate on most models.

Mercedes-Benz, which introduced the first passenger diesel auto in 1936, was number 4 in both the percentage and total volume.

If you want more details and the spreadsheet, please see Diesel Economics 200

dont know about that but here in AZ, the x5d outsells the 335d.

I have only seen 1 other 335d here and thousands of 335i's. Where are they all?
Seen about 5 x5d's

Are you talking about world wide sales or U.S. or European? I would be willing to wager that in Europe the sale of diesel is significantly higher than in the U.S. I personally would love to have a diesel, but until they sell a coupe with a diesel I will continue to buy gas powered in either 328 or 335.

Glad I bought the 'i'. The 'd' is just so...common.

Originally Posted by rdkind62

Are you talking about world wide sales or U.S. or European? .

Given that this is a U.S. forum, it's U.S. figures. In Europe, since virtually every model is available as a diesel, and diesel sales are >50% of BMWs volume, the story would be quite different.

The article I linked to also makes it clear that we are discussing U.S. figures.

Maybe the diesels are sitting in people's garages. I'm certainly not seeing them anywhere. I see multiple 335i's every day, but to date I think I may have seen one 335d.

Originally Posted by rgzimmer

Maybe the diesels are sitting in people's garages. I'm certainly not seeing them anywhere. I see multiple 335i's every day, but to date I think I may have seen one 335d.

Keep in mind that the 335i had a headstart of several years over the 335d so there are far more on the road.

In addition, this particular discussion is - as I mentioned in the first post - E90 focused (comparable model), not every 335i.

According to the chart, the 335i has outsold the 335d for the first 6 months of 2010: 2193 to 1426, respectively.

That breaks down to 60.5% 335i to 39.5% 335d.

Originally Posted by rgzimmer

Maybe the diesels are sitting in people's garages. I'm certainly not seeing them anywhere. I see multiple 335i's every day, but to date I think I may have seen one 335d.

I suspect people are ashamed of them and only take them out at night? Maybe they take the badges off?

Originally Posted by JSpira

Given that this is a U.S. forum, it's U.S. figures. In Europe, since virtually every model is available as a diesel, and diesel sales are >50% of BMWs volume, the story would be quite different.

The article I linked to also makes it clear that we are discussing U.S. figures.

Is it me, or are the "d" crowd uniformly defensive on the board?

Originally Posted by hpowders

Well, 7 to 5 is still pretty close. Nothing run away, but I have to admit I'm surprised the 335d is outselling the 335i. I would not have guessed that.

The fact that ~40% of YTD sales of the E90 and X5 are Diesel models is encouraging that BMW will have incentives to (a) continue selling Diesel models and (b) perhaps expand the range of models on which a Diesel engine is available.

The VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI is the king of the diesel hill at 10,314 units sold for the first 6 months of 2010.

Originally Posted by hpowders

Well, 7 to 5 is still pretty close. Nothing run away, but I have to admit I'm surprised the 335d is outselling the 335i. I would not have guessed that.

Every month is different and the 7 to 5 ratio you cite is for June, the 2nd month in 2010 during which the E90 335d outsold the E90 335i.

Originally Posted by hpowders

The VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI is the king of the diesel hill at 10,314 units sold for the first 6 months of 2010.

Quite true - the diesel variant there has left the petrol version in the dust.

Originally Posted by Tanning machine

The fact that ~40% of YTD sales of the E90 and X5 are Diesel models is encouraging that BMW will have incentives to (a) continue selling Diesel models and (b) perhaps expand the range of models on which a Diesel engine is available.

I don't know where he got those numbers. I looked at the chart and saw 2193 335i units sold to 1426 335d units sold for the first 6 months of 2010.

Edit: Okay, I see that the 335d beat the 335i in sales for the month of June.

One month of statistics does not a trend make, but it will certainly be worth watching if the 335d can hang on to that new lead.

Originally Posted by Tanning machine

The fact that ~40% of YTD sales of the E90 and X5 are Diesel models is encouraging that BMW will have incentives to (a) continue selling Diesel models and (b) perhaps expand the range of models on which a Diesel engine is available.

Did you notice the announcement in my article where BMW says they are expanding the range of models for diesels?

Originally Posted by JSpira

Every month is different and the 7 to 5 ratio you cite is for June, the 2nd month in 2010 during which the E90 335d outsold the E90 335i.

Yes. For the 6 month total of 2010, the 335i outsold the 335d in the US.

Originally Posted by hpowders

I don't know where he got those numbers. I looked at the chart and saw 2193 335i units sold to 1426 335d units sold for the first 6 months of 2010.

Edit: Okay, I see that the 335d beat the 335i in sales for the month of June.

One month of statistics does not a trend make, but it will certainly be worth watching if the 335d can hang on to that new lead.

It also beat the 335i in sales for April. The fact that it's two months makes it interesting.

Also, please note there was a typo in the chart - which has now been fixed. January 2010 335d sales were 131, not 13. So the YTD total for 2010 335d sales is 1544 (interestingly enough, the YTD total for the far less expensive A3 TDI is 1546).

Originally Posted by JSpira

It also beat the 335i in sales for April. The fact that it's two months makes it interesting.

Also, please note there was a typo in the chart - which has now been fixed. January 2010 335d sales were 131, not 13. So the YTD total for 2010 335d sales is 1544 (interestingly enough, the YTD total for the far less expensive A3 TDI is 1546).

It will indeed be interesting to view the full year results. Looks like 335i vs 335d will be quite close.

Hopefully, Shell will be influenced by these statistics and put more diesel pumps at the stations near me. I live in a rural area and my local Shell station doesn't have a diesel pump there.

17 miles away in the nearest big town, diesel pumps from all the big names are easy to find.

Originally Posted by JSpira

Given that this is a U.S. forum, it's U.S. figures. In Europe, since virtually every model is available as a diesel, and diesel sales are >50% of BMWs volume, the story would be quite different.

The article I linked to also makes it clear that we are discussing U.S. figures.

Not sure where you're getting your numbers. Roundel for June 10 published that BMW sold world wide 498,000 diesels out of 1,286,000 cars in 2009. That's 39%. The US numbers were almost 1/3 deisels in the X5 and 335d's were about 18%.

Originally Posted by Duncan17

Not sure where you're getting your numbers. Roundel for June 10 published that BMW sold world wide 498,000 diesels out of 1,286,000 cars in 2009. That's 39%. The US numbers were almost 1/3 deisels in the X5 and 335d's were about 18%.

Which numbers. You are citing worldwide figures and those are correct (39% overall diesel sales).

Regardless, my numbers come directly from the auto manufacturers.

It sounds like someone is trying to justify their purchase of a diesel engine.

Back in 1979, we had a 300D Mercedes which was a wonderful car, albeit very slow. The one thing I remember was that the injectors constantly got clogged and it was several hundred dollars to get them cleaned out. Do today's diesels have the same issue? The other issue is that they just smell bad, particularly when filling up the tank!

Originally Posted by Tanning machine

The fact that ~40% of YTD sales of the E90 and X5 are Diesel models is encouraging that BMW will have incentives to (a) continue selling Diesel models and (b) perhaps expand the range of models on which a Diesel engine is available.

I agree. Diesel is here to stay.

Originally Posted by beden1

It sounds like someone is trying to justify their purchase of a diesel engine.

Back in 1979, we had a 300D Mercedes which was a wonderful car, albeit very slow. The one thing I remember was that the injectors constantly got clogged and it was several hundred dollars to get them cleaned out. Do today's diesels have the same issue? The other issue is that they just smell bad, particularly when filling up the tank!

2 times when my car "stinks": 1. Every fill-up as local diesel drivers like to spill a puddle of the barely volatile stuff right before I pull up. 2. When the DPF runs a regeneration cycle - my brother likes the smell, he thinks it smells like burnt tortillas

So far no injector issues and my exhaust smells better than any 335i, with no chance of "rotten-egg" smell, even when the engine is cold I don't get a partially burnt hydrocarbon smell you get with gassers.

Still miss the Manual tranny on my E46!

gawd damn I love the diesel. So much fun.
Especially with the JBD!