BMW is seemingly kicking off 2018 with a bang and right on target to break yet another sales record. According to the Bavarian group, the conglomerate managed to post its best-yet sales figures in January 2018, sales rising to 169,538 units worldwide, an increase of 3.8 percent compared to the results recorded in January 2017. The aim this year will definitely be on electric vehicles, as the BMW Group sets its sights on 140,000 electrified cars to be delivered by the end of the year.

January was a good month in this regard, with sales of BMW i, BMW iPerformance and MINI Electric vehicles increasing by 36.7% compared to January last year. Worldwide, a total of 7,155 customers took delivery of a premium BMW Group electrified vehicle in January. More than a quarter of all BMW and MINI vehicles sold in Scandinavia were electrified. Other very strong markets include Great Britain/Ireland, where electrified vehicles accounted for 11.1% of total BMW and MINI sales and the USA, where the proportion of electrified sales was 5.2%.

“We are driving the biggest model offensive in the company’s history and as availability ramps up in the course of the year, this will continue to come through in our sales results,” said Pieter Nota, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Sales and Brand BMW. “Deliveries of the new BMW 5 Series sedan, for example, are up by 40%, while the introduction of the new BMW 6 Series GT has far more than doubled overall BMW 6 Series sales in the month.” Nota continued.

The new BMW 5 Series sedan was once again a strong growth driver, with global sales up 39.6% (25,268). The success of the BMW 1 Series sedan in China helped overall global BMW 1 Series sales increase by 26.4% while the BMW X1 (22,185 / +10.6%) and the BMW X6 (3,128 / +5.8%) were the main growth drivers in the BMW X family, as production of the new BMW X3 ramps up through the second half of the year.

The MINI brand achieved global sales growth of 7.0%, with the delivery of 20,929 vehicles to customers in January. The strongest growth driver was the MINI Countryman, which doubled its sales compared to January last year. A total of 6,022 customers took delivery of this model in the month, with one out of seven choosing the plug-in hybrid version of the car.