BMW India posts record car sales in first half of 2023, sells 5,867 units

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BMW branded vehicles and 391 units of MINI, its highest ever half-yearly sales in India, a PTI report says. "The (luxury car) market is finally growing, which all of us expected, but for us, it is also driven by new models that have given us a lot of growth," BMW Group India President Vikram Pawah told PTI in an interview. He said BMW's growth has come despite facing supply chain restrictions that had continued from last year to the first four months of 2023.

"The first four months of the year, supply was still not there and our new models were yet to arrive. So actually, the real representative of our growth would be to some degree, months of May and June," Pawah said. The luxury car company also reported an over 50 per cent jump in sales of its premium motorcycles under the BMW Motorrad brand at 4,667 units in January-June period this year.

BMW India also witnessed record orders with over 8,000 orders during the said period. It is an overall good reflection of the consumer sentiment and the strength of the company's brands, Pawah said. As revealed by the company, BMW's sports activity vehicles (SAV) line-up contributed to over 50 per cent of total sales, with the newly launched BMW X1 accounting for over 20 per cent.

Pawah said BMW's electric vehicles comprising models such as the i7, iX, i4 and MINI SE, are also fast gaining traction in the market. "We sold over 500 cars in the first half (of 2023) which is 46 per cent more than what we sold in the entire year last year...We are the absolute leaders in the premium electric vehicles segment because we have over 50 per cent market share," he said. The 'luxury class' comprising 7 Series, i7, X7 and XM contributed 20 per cent of total sales in the first half of 2023,