A race, a marathon, or a sprint – whatever you want to call it, BMW crossed the finish line first. After comfortably beating Audi, the final numbers from Mercedes show that the three-pointed star failed to catch BMW. Although the Stuttgart-based company enjoyed a 9% boost in sales last year, the Bavarians still came out on top.
In 2024, Mercedes shipped 324,528 vehicles to American buyers. Even so, in the US, BMW moved 46,818 more cars in the last 12 months. BMW set a new annual record at 371,346 units or 2.5% more than in 2023. It’s worth noting that Mercedes didn’t even finish second in the luxury sales race. It had to settle for third place, behind Lexus. Toyota’s premium brand ended the year with an all-time record of 345,470 cars delivered, neatly slotting between the two German luxury automakers.
We won’t have to wait much longer for total global sales figures for the previous year. However, it’s hard to imagine BMW being dethroned. The company readjusted its goals for 2024 following issues with the Integrated Braking System (IBS) in certain models and is projecting a “slight decrease” in deliveries. Initially, the Munich-based automaker estimated a “slight increase” over 2023, when it shipped 2,253,835 cars.
Predictably, SUVs were particularly popular last year in the US, where BMW makes most of its X-badged models. The X5 was the best-selling product in 2024, with 72,348 units shipped to buyers, a decline of 0.3%. The old and new X3 generations contributed to 68,798 units, up 8.9% over 2023. The 4 Series (Coupe, Convertible, Gran Coupe, and i4) finished third with 42,608 vehicles, down by 16.1% year over year.
BMW USA’s 2024 star, the X5 manufactured in Spartanburg, is already gearing up for its fifth generation. Codenamed “G65,” the new luxury SUV will reportedly enter production in August 2026. The gasoline, diesel, and plug-in hybrid versions will be accompanied by the first-ever fully electric derivative, the iX5. The EV will stick to the CLAR platform rather than sourcing the Neue Klasse architecture from the upcoming 2026 iX3.
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
Source: BMW BLOG
