BMW consolidated its leadership among premium automakers in the first quarter of 2025, despite an overall decline in market sales. The company sold 520,142 vehicles under its core brand in the January-March period, down 2% from last year. Mercedes-Benz posted a more marked decline of 4%, selling 446,300 vehicles, including Smart and Maybach.
BMW Group’s total volume, including MINI and Rolls-Royce, reached 586,149 cars, down 1.4%. The gap with Mercedes grew to 139,849 cars compared to 131,671 a year earlier.
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Europe was a key region for BMW, with sales up 6.2%, while Mercedes lost 7%. In China, both brands struggled, with BMW sales down 17.2% and Mercedes sales down 10%. However, BMW offset the decline with success in other markets, especially in the US, where growth was 4.1%.
The electric car segment was the breakthrough, with BMW increasing sales by 32.4% to 109,516 units, including 86,449 BMWs, 22,813 MINIs and 254 Rolls-Royce Spectre.
Mercedes-Benz and Smart sold only 40,700 electric cars, down 14% from last year.
