BMW EV Sales Double In Q1 2022 As US Growth Continues

BMW has doubled its first-quarter BEV (battery electric vehicle) sales in 2022, the premium Bavarian automaker reported today.

Driven across a wide range of models, the BMW Group reported 112.3% growth in its BMW-badged models, lifting its total BEV sales to 55,979 in Q1.

Its total sales globally topped out at 588,138 for a 1.5% reduction over 2022, though its US sales rose 11.4% to 89,750.

The main drag on the BMW Group’s figures was Mini, whose sales fell 9.7% to just 60,541 for the quarter as it waited for new BEV models to come on stream, and for its new direct-sales model, introduced last month, to gain traction in China.

Even the high-profit performance arm, BMW M, saw massive growth, with its sales rising 18.9% to 43,430 vehicles, on the back of a booming i4 M50 BEV and the M3 Touring (wagon). M will also launch the M2 Coupe this quarter, plus model updates of the X5 M, the X6 M, the X5 and the X6 M60i.

“Our fully-electric vehicles, in particular, are benefiting from high demand around the globe,” BMW Board Member for sales Pieter Nota, said.

“The BMW Group is on track for slight sales growth in the full year 2023. The main growth drivers in 2023 will be fully-electric vehicles and models from the high-end premium segment – like the new BMW i7, the new BMW 7 Series, the BMW XM and the updated BMW X7,” he said, indicating BMW was prioritizing margin over volume.

But the biggest boom in BMW-badged models has been its BEVs, going some way to justifying BMW’s development strategy of a hybrid vehicle architecture that can be used for BEV, hybrid and traditional combustion powertrains.

BMW found homes for 517,957 of its home-badged models in Q1, with the Pieter Nota noting that the iX, the i7, the i4 and the iX3 (all BMW-badged BEVs use “i” at the start of their names) were in high demand, while the compact x1 and iX1 SUVs had sold strongly.

It has a fully electric i5 – a BMW 5 Series BEV from its all new Neue Klasse-based 5 Series – due this year, along with an i5 Touring and a BMW iX2.

The BEV sales results fit with BMW’s claims that 20% of its volume will be BEV by next year, moving to 25% by 2025 and 33% by 2026.

But it is expecting growth in conventional vehicles, too, with big expectations for the X5 SUV after it localized long-wheelbase X5 production in China, freeing up mainstream X-model production capacity in Spartanburg, South Carolina.