From January to the end of March, BMW sold 1.5 percent fewer cars worldwide than in the same quarter last year. Global sales fell to around 588,000 vehicles, as the company announced in Munich. In China, deliveries of almost 195,000 cars were even 6.6 percent below the previous year, which the group explained with the Corona aftermath. In Europe, sales of 216,000 cars were 1.9 percent down on the previous year. In the USA, on the other hand, it increased by 11.2 percent to almost 90,000 cars.
But “a clear upward trend was evident worldwide in March,” the company said. A stabilization of the economy in China is to be expected in the course of the year. Chief Sales Officer Pieter Nota sees BMW “on course for slight growth in 2023 as a whole. The main growth drivers will be fully electric vehicles and models from the upper premium segment,” he said.
The group was able to increase sales of fully electric cars by 83 percent to almost 65,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter. The BMW brand doubled its e-car sales to 56,000 vehicles. It was “successful in maintaining our dynamic pace in ramping up electromobility in the first quarter,” said Nota.
