BMW Leaps 21 Percent in March US Sales

With the total number of cars having been sold last month globally by German auto makers still to be announced, the American divisions of Audi, Volkswagen and now BMW have already finished adding the numbers and comparing them with the ones achieved last year.

After the two brands from the Volkswagen group, BMW too unveiled the figures for the month of March and the first quarter of the year for the US market. And, just like the two German competitors, BMW too posted a strong increase.

The German auto maker says it sold 26,382 vehicles, an increase of 21.7 percent from the same month of last year. Since the beginning of the year, or for the first quarter of 2011, BMW posted sales of 64,958 vehicles, a jump of 18 percent over the same period of 2010.

The best-selling models in the BMW lineup in the States were the 3 Series (even if the 2011 achievement represents a 9.7 percent decrease over last year, a total of 8,503 cars from this range were sold) and the 5 Series (which posted a 55.6 percent jump to 4,491 units.) At the opposite end, only 66 6 Series left the dealerships.

"Three months into 2011, we're now seeing our consumer base becoming increasingly comfortable with the moderate pace of economic recovery," said Jim O'Donnell, BMW of North America CEO.

"Those with attractive vehicles, such as the new BMW 5 Series and X3 and the MINI Countryman, are right in the sweet spot of opportunity as we are seeing with the X3 and the Countryman accounting for more than 9,000 year-to-date sales of the BMW Group in the U.S."