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.January 08, 2004
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This Week:

• GM to Produce Pontiac Solstice at Wilmington, Delaware Assembly Plant

• Lexus HPX Concept Car on Display at North American International Auto Show

• Mazda MX-Micro Sport Concept Premiers At The Detroit Auto Show

• New 2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible Brings the Top Down at the 2004 North American International Auto Show

• BMW Group Sales For 2003 Topple All Previous Records

• Infiniti Adds to Its All-Wheel Drive Lineup With Full-Size QX56 Luxury SUV and G35 Sedan AWD

• All-New Ford F-150 Named 2004 North American Truck Of The Year

• Luxury and comfort of the highest calibre: 12-cylinder Audi A8 L

• Nissan Debuts All-New 2005 Frontier Pickup, Pathfinder SUV and Nissan Actic Concept at NAIAS

• DaimlerChrysler Sells 3.82 Million Passenger Vehicles Worldwide in 2003

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BMW Group Sales For 2003 Topple All Previous Records

Year-to-date Sales Up Jump 8 Percent

BMW 6 series convertible

Photo: BMW
 

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - The BMW Group (BMW and MINI brands combined) ended its best year ever with robust twelve-month sales gain of 8 percent, reporting 276,869 vehicles over the 256,622 reported in 2002. It was the twelfth straight year that BMW posted sales increases. Sales for December were off 5 percent, at 24,915 vehicles compared to sales of 26,252 in December 2002. BMW Brand Also Has Best Year BMW of North America, LLC reported annual sales of 240,589 automobiles and Sports Activity Vehicles, up 4 percent over the 232,032 vehicles sold in the same period last year. The company also reported sales of 20,910 vehicles, down 9 percent from the 22,974 recorded in the same month in 2002.

"We experienced exceptional performance in several models. Sales of the 5 Series models reached nearly 47,000 (46,964), an increase of 15 percent over the previous best year in 2002. The all-new 5 Series went on sale in late September to strong consumer reception. Sales of the BMW 7 Series continue to outperform expectations, with more than 20,000 (20,473) automobiles in 2003," said Ed Robinson, Executive Vice President - Operations for BMW of North America, LLC. "BMW continued to capture 40 percent of the premium roadster market in 2003; more than 20,000 (20,324) Z4 models were sold."

BMW Automobile Sales

BMW reported sales of 200,144 automobiles compared to the 189,290 cars sold in 2002, an increase of 6 percent. The company also reported December automobile sales of 16,054, down 15 percent from the 18,949 cars sold in the same month a year ago.

BMW Sports Activity Vehicle Sales

For the month of December, the company reported sales of 4,856 BMW X5 Sports Activity Vehicles, up 20 percent over the 4,025 vehicles reported last year.

Year-to-date, sales of BMW's X5 Sports Activity Vehicles were off 4.7 percent, to 40,715 vehicles from the 42,742 reported in 2002.

BMW Certified Pre-owned Vehicles Sales

Sales of BMW CPO vehicles set new records, too, as the company reported 65,693 vehicles in 2003, an increase of 8.4 percent above the 60,160 vehicles sold last year. For December, CPO sales were up 4.5 percent to 5,526 compared to 5,289 sold in the same month in 2002.

MINI Brand

MINI Automobiles

MINI sales in the U.S. continue to surpass expectations. Year-to-date, the company reported sales of 19,592 MINI Coopers and 16,418 MINI Cooper S' for combined sales of 36,010. The company reported sales of 1,969 MINI Coopers and 2,036 MINI Cooper S' during the month of December for a total of 4,005 cars sold, making it a record month for MINI. Two ships of cars arrived earlier than expected and in time to ship to dealers for delivery to customers by the end of 2003. The MINI brand has been on sale in the U.S. since March 22, 2002.

(January 5, 2004)