Global sales figures are in for the first quarter of the year, and they’re bittersweet. On one hand, BMW fell by 2% overall to 520,142 cars. On the other hand, it grew in all markets except for China, which remains the company’s largest single region. The January-March interval was way better for the Bavarians than their archrival Mercedes. The three-pointed fell 4% to 446,300 vehicles.
Including MINI, BMW was up 6.2% to 241,867 cars in Europe during the first three months of 2025. Shipments jumped by 4.1% in the United States, reaching 94,591 cars. In the Americas, the luxury brand and its British branch enjoyed a 5.4% surge in demand, totaling 114,313 units. However, the BMW Group fell hard in China, where shipments were down 17.2% to 155,195 cars.
If we’re talking strictly about MINIit had a great start to the year, fueled by the renewal of its entire lineup last year. The Oxford-based marque ended the first quarter with a 4.1% boost to 64,626 cars. More than a third of the cars sold by MINI didn’t have a combustion engine. The BMW Group reports that the share of electric vehicles in MINI’s sales hit 35.3% in Q1 2025.
What about Rolls-Royce? Shipments fell by 9.4% to 1,381 units. However, RR has never been about volume since the Goodwood ultra-luxury brand has far higher profit margins.
The three automakers shipped 109,516 fully electric cars, or 32.4% more than January-March 2024. As you can imagine, the core BMW brand did all the heavy lifting by shipping 86,449 EVs, an increase of 9.9% compared to the same interval last year. Mercedes sold less than half, with deliveries of electric cars falling by 14% to 40,700 units.
Factoring in plug-in hybrids, the BMW Group’s electrified vehicle sales climbed by 28.5% to 157,495 cars with a charging port. Later this year, the automotive conglomerate will reach two important milestones on its road to zero emissions: three million electrified vehicles (EV+PHEV) and 1.5 million EVs.
We haven’t forgotten about BMW Motorrad, which delivered 44,609 units, or 3.9% fewer motorcycles and scooters.
Source: BMW
