The BMW Group, one of the world’s leading car manufacturers, announced significant growth in sales of fully-electric vehicles for the first quarter of 2023. The company delivered 64,647 BMW and MINI electric cars to customers globally, an increase of 83.2% compared to the same period last year. The BMW brand, in particular, more than doubled its sales of fully-electric vehicles to 55,979 units, a surge of 112.3% from Q1 2022. The strong demand for electric vehicles drove the BMW Group’s electromobility ramp-up and is expected to be a primary growth driver in 2023, along with models from the high-end premium segment, such as the new BMW i7, BMW 7 Series, BMW XM, and updated BMW X7.
The BMW Group sold a total of 588,138 BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce cars globally in Q1 2023, a slight decrease of 1.5% compared to the same period in 2022. The company believes that the Chinese economy will stabilize in the coming months, while sales in the US remain robust. In Europe, sales were slightly down due to the export and production ban for the Russian market. Nevertheless, March showed a clear upward trend worldwide, and the BMW Group is confident about slight growth in deliveries to customers globally in the automotive segment in 2023.
With the rollout of the new BMW i5 in 2023, the BMW Group aims to offer at least one fully-electric model in every major segment of its business. The company anticipates a steep growth trajectory in the coming years, with one in five of its new vehicles expected to have a fully-electric drivetrain by 2024, one in four by 2025, and one in three by 2026. The BMW Group believes that the NEUE KLASSE has the potential to accelerate the market penetration of e-mobility further.
BMW brand sales were slightly down by 0.4%, with 517,957 units sold in Q1 2023. However, the sales of fully-electric vehicles more than doubled, with the BMW iX, BMW i7, BMW i4, and BMW iX3 being particularly in demand. BMW M also reported significant momentum, with 46,430 units sold in Q1, an increase of 18.9% compared to the same period last year. The highly emotional, fully-electrified BMW M Performance derivative, the i4 M50, and the new M3 Touring were the main growth drivers. The quarter’s results were crowned by the market launch of the first electrified BMW M High-Performance derivative, the XM plug-in hybrid.
Despite the challenging business environment, BMW Group is confident about the year 2023, given the positive momentum in the high-end premium segment and the strong order book overall. The BMW Group is planning for growth in the mid-double-digit percentage range and expects slight growth in deliveries to customers worldwide in the automotive segment in 2023.
