BMW Sales Suffer In 3rd Quarter, With BEVs Only Real Bright Spot
October 13, 20261 hour
Z. S.
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Like many legacy automakers, BMW Group is having a down year, including in the third quarter. In fact, despite years of dragging its feet and lobbying against regulations pushing for a faster transition to electric vehicles, full electrics (BEVs) were the only bright spot for the company last quarter.
New BMW i3 While the BMW brand, MINI, BMW Motorrad, Rolls-Royce, and the overall BMW Group had declining sales year over year in the third quarter (-6.8%, -2.4%, -12.5%, -18.0%, and -6.3%, respectively), and even BMW Group electrified vehicles were down 0.3%, BMW Group’s BEV sales were up a whopping 7.2%! Imagine if the company had focused a bit more on BEVs and on leading the BEV transition.
Like other major automakers that once found glory and tremendous sales success in China, the shifting Chinese market and low auto sales in 2026 took a big chunk out of BMW’s market share. Sales in China were down 24.8%! Of course, the Chinese auto market is electrifying quickly, so the best way to minimize sales drops crashes there is to develop more competitive EVs, but consumers are shifting more and more to Chinese EV brands.
In Europe, where BMW Group did see 2.7% sales growth, BEVs were the big story. “Between July and the end of September 2026, the BMW Group delivered 110,257 fully electric vehicles worldwide (+7.2%),” the German company writes. “In Europe, one in three BMW Group vehicles delivered to customers during this period was fully electric (34.7%). BEV sales increased here disproportionately to 81,941 units (+37.5%). This also applies to Germany, where the BMW Group’s fully electric models recorded exceptionally high growth (+38.5%).” Sounds good, nein?
Well, thank goodness for electric vehicles.
Oh, by the way, the only segment of the company that has seen sales growth year over year across the first nine months of 2026 is the MINI brand, and it is heavily electrified. “Since the start of the year, MINI has sold a total of 220,247 vehicles, increasing its deliveries by 6.8%. 37.2% of those vehicles were fully electric. This positive trend was partly driven by the John Cooper Works models and the MINI Paul Smith Edition*. Further impetus is expected from the new MINI Countryman Untamed Edition.”
Thank goodness for electric vehicles!
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