The global economic situation has been steadily improving and luxury manufacturers are seeing strong increases in sales in the United States and around the globe.
The good news is that in the midst of this, performance is alive and well. Cadillac’s V-Series lineup has been in the spotlight and Audi has released imported European market cars like the TT-RS and RS5 to our shores.
At BMW we’ve seen the addition of a new model, the 1 Series M. It harkens back to the original M3 and, as a new entry-level model, should help increase sales for the M Division. According to new figures released by BMW, the M Division is doing pretty well for itself as it is though.
For 2010, global M sales totaled 16,967 units, a strong increase of 14.2 percent. This was off the back of growth around the world, particularly in new and emerging markets. The U.S remains the largest market for M vehicles, with sales up 6 percent to 6,821 units. BMW’s home market of Germany follows with 1,716 sold, and Britain/Northern Ireland in third with 1,264.
The best-selling model was the M3, checking in at 5,729 coupes, 2,544 convertibles and just 1,843 of the slow-selling (and probably soon to be phased out) four-door sedan.
Chinese sales were up the largest, clocking in at 1,088 for a growth level of 355 percent. BMW’s tamer counterpart to the M cars, M Sport packages, totaled 138,800 sales globally, up by a paltry 1 percent. In short, it’s good to see BMW’s M cars selling better than ever before. This is also taking into account that the V-10 powered last generation M5 was being phased out. With new models like the 1-Series M and new M5 on the way, 2011 should be another banner year for the M Division.
