Three Strategies Behind BMW Group’s Q1 Success In The U.S.

BMW North America has released its sales figures for the opening quarter of 2025, totals bolstered by a near-equal split between its passenger cars and ‘light truck’ divisions, and an impressive shot in the arm from its battery-electric fleet. Unsurprisingly, BMW took the lion’s share of the BMW Groups’ sales in the U.S., accounting for 87,615 total sales so far in 2025 compared with ‘just’ 6,976 for MINI, though even the latter was an increase over the British icon’s total in 2024.

Interestingly, and unlike the more SUV-prone American Honda, sales of BMW’s passenger cars and ‘light trucks’ (i.e. SUVs) were split almost completely down the middle, with the car fleet amassing 43,619 units sold during Q1 in 2025, already a 12.7 percent increase over the 38,701 examples sold in Q1 2024 and just 377 less than the number of SUVs sold during that same period. Of the passenger cars, the mid-sized 4 Series coupe was the bestseller with 11,877 units sold – 34 percent above the 8,847 examples sold early last year – while the X5 was the runaway ‘winner’ of the light truck category with 17,438.

3

Expanding EV Offerings

Impressively, of the 87,615 vehicles sold in the United States by the BMW Group in Q1, 13,538 of them were battery-electric vehicles, a 26.4 percent increase over the 10,713 BEVs sold by the Group during the same period last year.

Most of the heavy lifting was done by the i4 sedan, of which 7,125 examples were sold in Q1, 2,588 more than the Bavarian brand managed to shift during Q1 2024. The newly-upgraded i4 was also the most improved BEV seller for BMW, with sales increasing by 57 percent.

The range-topping iX SUV, meanwhile, proved the dark horse of BMW’s battery-electric contingent, with 3,626 examples sold, an improvement of 23.1 percent over the 2,945 units sold in Q1 2024. Of further note, the new-for-2026 iX also entered production in March, meaning sales are likely to rise yet further later in the year.

There was less rosy news for both the i5 mid-sized sedan and the i7 limousine, of which 1,899 and 888 examples were sold respectively. Though a significant contributing factor to BMW’s BEV sales, both unfortunately were down on their 2024 totals.

BMW Battery-Electric Vehicles sales (2025)

2

Introducing New MINI Models

The newly-introduced Countryman has proven decisive for MINI’s sales so far in 2025, the SUV accounting for almost half of the brand’s total sale – 3,192 of the accumulative 6,976 – and an impressive 50 percent increase over the model’s sales in Q1 in 2024. Regrettably though, that’s where the good news stops for MINI, as all four variants of the smaller MINI Cooper S – the 2-door, the 4-door, the Convertible, and the Clubman – all fell short of their 2024 totals. Moreover, only six examples of the Cooper S Clubman were sold in Q1 compared with 513 in 2024 now that production has drawn to a close for the minivan.

MINI sales (2025)

1

Leveraging Local Production

BMW North America’s CEO was quick to praise BMW’s growing production presence in the United States for its strong start to 2025, stating that American-built BMWs would help to “capitalize on the momentum in the market.”

Indeed, of the six models currently being built out of BMW’s Spartanburg facility (all ‘X’ SUVs, including the M Division’s XM), at least three of them have enjoyed increased sales so far in 2025. The X5’s 17,000-plus figure, for example, marks a 16.9 percent increase over the 14,923 sold in early 2024, while the halo X7 saw a modest increase of 3.9 percent from 6,957 to 7,228 so far in 2025. The biggest leap, however, was taken by the X6, of which 2,633 examples were sold, a massive 71.6 percent over its total in 2024.

BMW Passenger Car sales (2025)

BMW ‘Light Truck’ sales (2025)