BMW claws back to form, sales zoom 25% in 2017 at 9,800 units

BMW Group India today reported a robust 25 per cent growth in car sales selling 9,800 units in 2017, with the flagship BMW delivering 1,879 more cars to customers in the year gone by.

BMW Motorrad, the two-wheeler arm, which made its debut here in April 2017, sold 252 motorcycles within the nine months of launch, the company said.

"BMW Group India delivered 9,800 cars, including 421 units of the small-premium car Mini, registering a growth of 25 per cent over the year-ago period," it said.

BMW sold 9,379 cars in 2017, clocking a growth of 25 per cent compared to 7,500 units delivered in 2016, the company said, adding Mini also logged a growth of 17 per cent, over 2016 cent, at 421 units.

This is the best ever numbers for the second largest luxury carmaker in the country.

The German auto giant has three brands here — BMW, Mini and Motorrad.

In 2017, the BMW sales growth was predominantly driven by the sports activity vehicle (SAV) segment, particularly the compact X1 and its premium variant X5.

The second half of 2017 also saw an unprecedented acceleration in sales with the launch of the all-new 5 Series, the most progressive sport-business sedan here, it said.

"The year 2017 was a challenging year for the automotive industry in India that adversely affected stability and impacted consumer confidence due to several policy fluctuations.

"We have achieved this successful growth as a result of our robust strategy, a resolute approach in its implementation," Vikram Pawah, BMW Group India president said.

"We are confident of continuing this momentum but our primary goal is to grow the size of the luxury car market here. We strongly believe, that leading the growth of the segment is more important than anything, even more important than being just Number 1," he added.

The market leader Mercedes is yet to announce the numbers, while No 3 Audi reported a tepid 2 per cent volume growth and the British rival JLR reported a whopping 49 per cent spike in sales in the year.