BMW January Sales Drop 24.7 Percent

We already knew that January brought very low sales for most automakers so a 24.7 percent drop for BMW shouldn't amaze anyone. Well, German manufacturer BMW, a company that was often described as a less-affected automaker when it comes to the economic downturn, reported sales of 70,405 vehicles in January, which represents a 24.7 percent decrease compared to the same month of 2008.

The aforementioned figures concerns all the three brands owned by the German group, including BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce. The BMW brand sold 60,248 units in January, a 22.1 percent drop compared to the same period last year. MINI sales fell 34.5 percent to 10,120 units while Rolls-Royce deliveries were decreased by 9.8 percent. Only 37 Rolls-Royce automobiles were sold in January, BMW said.

"Current market conditions remain extremely challenging. However, our Efficient Dynamics strategy is expected to continue to provide momentum for the BMW Group with more and more European countries moving towards CO2-based vehicle taxes. No other manufacturer reduced its fleet's CO2 emissions more than the BMW Group last year,” Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Sales and Marketing, said.

But despite all these gloomy figures, BMW 7 Series sales actually grew up by almost 5.1 percent compared to the same month of the year before. Customers bought a total of 2,498 BMW 7 Series units in January, as well as 2,846 BMW X6 units and 1,295 BMW 1 Series Coupe models.

Here are the overall results of the BMW Group in January 2009 compared to the same month of the previous year:

BMW Group Automobiles 70,405 -24.2%
BMW 60,248 -22.1%
MINI 10,120 -34.5%
Rolls-Royce 37 -9.8%
BMW Motorcycles 3,731 +1.1%