[Jason]

From Fred Meloan:

"Total 3 Series sales were up 8.8% this month when compared to last August. Sales of the new E90 3 Series continued to do well as the new E90s comprised 78.5% of this month’s total sales. In spite of the success of the new 3 Series model YTD sales for the first two-thirds of 2005 were down 7.6% when compared to the same period of last year.

For comparison, Mercedes Benz sold only 5,054 C Class units this month, down 8.6% from the 5,529 units sold last August. YTD sales of the C Class were down 18.3% for the first 8 months of 2005."

* report only on United States sales data.

[stressdoc]

Did you check his stats -- his excel sheet had some errors last time. Wonder why the slacking sales overall... And wait until the Lexus IS sales start chomping away at E90 and C class ...

[RichReg]

Originally Posted by stressdoc

Did you check his stats -- his excel sheet had some errors last time. Wonder why the slacking sales overall... And wait until the Lexus IS sales start chomping away at E90 and C class ...

I think Fred's been doing this long enough;;his figures are usually pretty accurate.
Have you seen the price of gas lately? Many of these types of cars aren't selling very well;;everyone's gonna want an economy car or hybrid. That being said, I don't think too many people will be very thrilled with the IS 350's 17/24 mpg EPA rating. It might have a slight edge in hp, but I don't think Benz or BMW have too much to worry about, especially Benz....new C350 will kick some major ass.

[stressdoc]

306 hp is more than a slight edge. And we will have to see if there is a significant price edge too. I agree the C350 will be excellent. Where o where is the 335i when we need it!!!

[Jason]

BMW overall doing very well.
___________________________

BMW GROUP IN THE U.S. REPORTS BEST MONTH EVER FOR BMW BRAND
09/01/2005

BMW Group Sales up 18 Percent for August;

Year-to-Date Sales Rise 4.3 Percent

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - September 1, 2005... The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI brands combined) reported impressive August sales of 28,879, an increase of 18 percent over the 24,501 vehicles sold the same month last year, for its second best month ever. The BMW Group also reported year-to-date sales of 200,562 vehicles, up 4 percent over the 192,233 vehicles sold in the first eight months of 2004.

BMW Brand
BMW reported its best sales month ever, with 25,537 vehicles sold, an increase of 15 percent over the 22,167 sold in August 2004. Previously, the best month for the BMW brand was December 2004, when sales of 25,482 BMWs were reported.

Year-to-date, BMW brand sales were up 1.2 percent, to 171,579 compared to 169,480 in the same period last year.

"Strong sales across all models, including BMW's new 3 Series and 7 Series automobiles, contributed to this record-breaking month for the BMW brand," according to Tom Purves, chairman and CEO of BMW (US) Holding Corp.

BMW Automobile Sales
August sales of BMW automobiles were up 13 percent, to 17,254 cars, compared to 15,305 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, sales in this category were down 2 percent, to 124,406 automobiles compared to 126,885 in the same period a year ago.

BMW Sports Activity Vehicle Sales
SAV sales were up 21 percent for the month to 8,283 vehicles, compared to 6,862 vehicles sold in August 2004. Year-to-date, sales of BMW's two SAV models are up 11 percent, to 47,173 vehicles compared to 42,595 in the same period of 2004.

Certified Pre-owned
BMW also reported its best August ever for sales of Certified Pre-owned BMWs. Monthly sales of Certified Pre-owned vehicles were 6,470, up 15 percent over the 5,637 vehicles sold in the same month last year. Year-to-date, BMW CPO sales were up 3.3 percent, to 49,620 vehicles over 48,042 for the same period a year ago.

MINI Brand
MINI Automobiles
MINI USA continued to experience strong demand, with August sales up 43 percent, to 3,342 cars versus the 2,334 sold in that month in 2004. The division reported sales of 28,983 cars year-to-date, up 27 percent compared to 22,753 sold in first eight months of 2004.

[RichReg]

Originally Posted by jwocky

BMW Brand
BMW reported its best sales month ever, with 25,537 vehicles sold, an increase of 15 percent over the 22,167 sold in August 2004. Previously, the best month for the BMW brand was December 2004, when sales of 25,482 BMWs were reported.

BMW CPO sales were up 3.3 percent, to 49,620 vehicles over 48,042 for the same period a year ago.

That pretty much tells the story.
Thanks, Jay.

[Jason]

Happy to share Rich. Just goes to show that despite BMW's new designs seemingly polarizing the public (at least the portion of the public that express themselves on internet forums), the new cars somehow appeal to even more consumers than the older designs.

[ogrady]

Interesting stats in that PDF. Looks like 25,000 E90's have been sold so far this year, with the 325 selling more than the 330 by a 3:1 ratio. Car is selling well - good to see.

[ZenDriver]

designs seemingly polarizing the public

You do realize that that is the whole point of BMW's new designs, yes?

Pre Bangel- BMW built cars that 80% of everyone thought were nice. The problem is, so did Mercedes, Lexus and Audi. These 4 companies all strove to make cars that appealed to 80% of the population and they then competed on the brand aesthetic, technology, feature set, performance- given the size and drive of BMW/Mercedes/Audi/Lexus, it had always been a pretty close race.

Bangle comes along and the strategy is different- build cars that only 50% or even 35% of the market likes, but make that 35% absolutely LOVE the new look... so much so that they won't even consider the other cars, they totally lust after the BMW and everything else they see as bland junk designed to appease the masses.

The aesthetic landscape between the 4 brands is totally different now. BMW is building angular, avant guard, creased, chiseled sports sedans (I think the 5 is the most successful). Mercedes is building curvy, very sexy sedans (the CLS is just epic). Audi is taking the fallout; all of the people who are not too turned on by MB and BMW's new styling are going to Audi, which has gone somewhat conservative. Aesthetically, I think Lexus is now playing catchup and they are coasting along on the good tech, good value and great customer experience, but nobody is calling the new GS or IS 'sexy.'

The car market is fascinating these days...