August, Best Monthly Sales this Year for BMW

August seemed to be a good sales month for many automakers, mostly because of the Cash for Clunkers program that kicked off in late July. German automaker BMW also had a significant increase in the number of new vehicles sold last month, reporting its best sales month so far this year.

The group however, was down 26.5 percent compared to the first eight-month period last year. ”We are happy with BMW sales this month because it shows a strengthening of the premium market," said Jim O'Donnell, President of BMW of North America, LLC. "On the other hand, we always knew this month would be difficult in comparison to August 2008, because it was one of our strongest months on record."

MINI USA reported sales of 5,111 automobiles, making August 2009 MINI's fifth best month in its U.S. history dating back to 2002. The brand also recorded a decrease of 16.4 percent compared to the same eight-month period last year.

"Cash for Clunkers brought some new, more pragmatic customers to MINI who would probably not have considered the brand without the program," said Jim McDowell, Vice President of MINI USA. "This is good and shows that for MINI, Cash for Clunkers was not just a 'pull ahead' of sales."

As for the BMW brand sales, which totaled 19,232 units, the best selling models were the 3 Series, 5 Series and X5, while the 6 Series and the X6 models were at the bottom of the customer’s preferences. The best selling model in the MINI range was the Cooper S Hardtop, followed by the Cooper S Clubman and with the Cooper S Convertible closing the list.