BMW Drops 20 Percent in the US

German manufacturer BMW announced today its sales figures in the US and things no longer look up for the group. According to the company data, sales of BMW and MINI vehicles in the US have dropped to 20,849 units in June, meaning a 20.3 points fall when compared to the same month of 2008. For the six months of the year, the numbers are at least as grim: year-to-date sales volume of 114,448 vehicles, down 27.5 percent, compared to 157,913 vehicles sold in the first half of 2008.

"June sales were similar to the current weather in the Northeast - rainy but warm with some bright spots," Jim O'Donnell, PBMW of North America president said in a release. "The premium market continues to react to rational products. So, it's not surprising our best performing vehicles were the core BMW X5 and 3 Series."

The BMW brand sold 16,744 vehicles compared to 20,944 vehicles reported in the same month of 2008 (20.1 percent drop). MINI also experienced vertigo, as it recorded a drop of 21.2 percent, amounting to 4,105 vehicles (5,211 vehicles in June 2008).

"This month, we saw consumers coming back into dealerships in some metro areas like Boston, New York and Los Angeles and that's encouraging," Jim McDowell, MINI US vice president said. "The positive results in those three areas have helped to decouple MINI somewhat from the industry decline and we continue to outperform the market by a wide margin."

As for vehicles, the best performer in June was the 3 Series, which had the least drop: 12.9 percent. At the opposite end, the X3 was an all-out failure, registering a 69.8 percent dunk. On the MINI front, Cooper S Convertible was the star of the month, with a drop of "only' 15.7 percent, while the "black sheep of the family" was designated the Cooper S Hardtop, with a 23.2 percent drop.