MINI Still BMW's Fastest Growing Premium Brand

BMW today announced that global sales were down 8.3 percent in October but stated that MINI is still the fastest-growing premium brand with a total of 17,385 vehicles delivered in October. BMW says no less than 1,226,990 units were sold in the first ten months of 2008, compared to 1,218,498 vehicles in the same period of 2007. However, sales were decreased in October 2008 by 8.3 percent, with the German carmaker pointing to the global economic crisis that affected sales of the majority of car manufacturers.

"Faced with the extremely challenging conditions in the automotive markets, we no longer expect to exceed last year's record sales for the full year. In most Western European markets, Japan and the United States, sales for October were again lower than those for the same month last year,” Ian Robertson, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Sales and Marketing, said in a press statement.

A total of 1,023,743 BMW brand automobiles were delivered to customers in the first ten months, with MINI sales increased by 10.5 percent to no less than 202,302 units. This means “the MINI brand is still the world's fastest-growing premium brand,” BMW proudly said.

Besides MINI, Rolls Royce also increased sales by 37.8 percent, now totaling 945 units, compared to 686 vehicles delivered last year.

More importantly, October 2008 also represented a major milestone in BMW X3's history, with the 500,000th unit officially delivered to its new owner. “With its sporty handling, the X3 continues to set the standard in the segment for compact premium off-roaders,” BMW wrote.

BMW recorded increasing sales in most emerging markets, as it follows: China (5,280 vehicles / +35.6%), Russia (1,707 / +39.7%) and India (220 / +10.0%). However, sales in Western Europe were down 11.6 percent while in United States demand was decreased by 5.0 percent.