BMW is growing in Germany against the trend

Neither the major brake recall nor the delivery ban could prevent BMW Germany from a strong finish for the third quarter: In September 2024, new registrations only increased by 0.7 percent at first glance, but BMW and MINI were among the German car manufacturers In September 2024, they were actually the only brands that were able to improve compared to the same month last year. MINI achieved a much larger jump in percentage terms with an increase of 16 percent to 4,079 units, which is probably linked to the increasing availability of new products such as Cooper (J01, F66, F65) and Countryman (U25).

The BMW Group’s direct competitors failed to make the end of the third quarter similarly positive: new registrations at Mercedes fell by 13.0 percent, and Audi even shrank by 16.6 percent. In absolute numbers, Mercedes was still enough to take the top spot ahead of BMW, although the Federal Motor Transport Authority always counts light commercial vehicles such as the Citan, Sprinter and Vito in addition to premium cars and therefore does not allow for an absolutely clean comparison.

Because large volume brands such as Volkswagen, Opel and Ford also shrank significantly, new registrations in the overall market fell by 7.0 percent. September also brought new registrations into the red for the year as a whole, with a total difference of 1.0 percent for the first nine months.

In the premium segment, after nine months, BMW is the only brand that is formally ahead of the same period last year – in actual terms, the 169,860 new registrations with an increase of 0.4 percent correspond to the previous year’s level. Since Mercedes shrank by 11.0 percent in the same period and the Federal Motor Transport Authority even reported a decline of 17.7 percent for Audi, BMW’s position on the German market has nevertheless noticeably improved.

In the fourth quarter, new products such as the BMW 1 Series (F70) and the X3 (G45) should ensure that things continue to move forward.

(Graphics & information: KBA)