Sales At BMW Declined In The First Quarter Of 2026

BMW announced that in the first quarter of 2026, it recorded a 3.5 percent year-on-year drop in total vehicle sales to 565,748 cars, reflecting weaker demand in key world markets, primarily in China and in the electric vehicle (EV) segment.

The decline was more pronounced for the main BMW brand, which recorded a 4.6 percent decrease in sales to 496,050 vehicles, thus confirming the trend of slowing growth in the company’s core business segment. In contrast, subsidiary Mini achieved sales growth of 5.9 percent, with 68,427 cars delivered, which indicates more stable demand in this segment. In the same period, the Rolls-Royce subsidiary recorded a year-on-year drop of eight percent, to 1,271 vehicles, Wirtschaftswoche reports.

The biggest negative contribution to the overall results came from China, where sales fell by 10 percent year-on-year to around 144,000 vehicles. The American market also recorded a decline, by 4.3 percent year-on-year to slightly more than 90,000 vehicles. Europe, however, saw the opposite trend, as overall sales in the European market rose by around three percent to 236,000, while Germany posted a strong 10.7 percent increase to around 68,000 cars, which moderated the overall decline.

A special problem for the company is the segment of electric vehicles, where sales fell by 20 percent year-on-year to 87,500 units. This is a significant turnaround after previous years in which BMW recorded strong growth in electromobility. In the company, a partial explanation is related to the transition to the new generation of the “Neue Klasse” model, as well as to changes in the structure of orders, while the management still expects an improvement in the sales performance of new EVs in the coming quarters.

• Also See: BMW Preparing And Electric Version Of The X7 (iX7) For Next Year