Best ever quarter with 18 percent sales growth
In the race for leadership in the premium car segment, BMW Group Middle East remains in pole position as it posts stronger than ever sales for the month of March as well as the first quarter. Powered by robust sales of BMW 5 Series, X5 and X6 models, the company sold a total of 7,460 BMW and MINI vehicles in 12 Middle East markets during the first three months of the year resulting in an 18% increase compared to the first quarter in 2013.
The UAE remained the largest market, accounting for around half of BMW Group Middle East’s total sales. Abu Dhabi remained the biggest selling market with 2,672 cars sold, a 40% sales increase followed by Dubai, Sharjah & the Northern Emirates with 1,392 cars sold, a six percent sales growth. Other markets that showed sales increases included: Oman with sales increasing 33% (281 cars sold), Saudi Arabia 29% sales growth (1,139 cars) and Qatar by 20% (435 cars).
Alexander Eftmov, Director Sales & Marketing for BMW Group Middle East said: “Achieving our best-ever month in March and best-ever first quarter is an outstanding result. A major contributor has been our attractive and young model range, and our aim is to continue the momentum with additional new model launches this year, such as the BMW M3 Sedan, M4 Coupé and all-new BMW X4 and BMW i8 sports car to name a few. We have the right products with many of them being leaders in their respective categories and strong business partners therefore we are confident that we will achieve great success throughout 2014.”
The BMW 5 Series was the best selling model with 1,790 cars sold, followed by the BMW X6 Sports Activity Coupé (1,089 cars) followed by sales of the X5 Sports Activity Vehicle (1,074 cars). The company’s flagship BMW 7 Series also continued its success story with almost a thousand cars sold during the first quarter.
During the first quarter, the MINI Countryman continued to be the best-selling model witnessing a 5% increase in sales with 182 cars sold while John Cooper Works, MINI’s racing sub-brand, experienced a sizable 43% increase with the sale of 73 cars.
MINI also pushed ahead with the growth of its product range during the first three months, with the launch of the all-new MINI Hatch, the brand’s core model in the seven member product line-up. The third generation model boasts a new design, new engines, new options and a vast range of new quality materials and colours.