Kiwis were well and truly in love with their BMWs and Minis last year, with BMW Group New Zealand reporting record combined sales of both brands in 2023.
When put into numbers, total registrations for both marques reached 2812 for the year, which is a 12 per cent increase on 2022. Mini made up 1048 of those, while BMW took a larger slice of the pie with 1764 new cars hitting the road.
Among the most popular models for BMW were the X5 and 7 Series, those of which recorded a respective 21 and 22 per cent growth, while the Mini Countryman saw a 15 per cent increase in popularity over the previous year with 450 registrations.
“We are delighted to have gone from strength to strength in 2023 even in challenging market conditions to deliver, in harmony with our valued dealer partners, a record number of vehicles across the country,” says Adam Shaver, BMW Group NZ Managing Director.
Electrification was also another strong point for the local arm of BMW, with sales of its fully electric models almost doubling in 2023 compared to 2022. The best-selling of them all was the i4 with 133 new registrations last year, but credit was also given to the iX of which 73 new units hit the road. As for Mini, it saw a 30 per cent growth for its EV models with the Electric Hatch being the brand’s most popular model.
BMW and Mini plan to build on their respective electric portfolios in 2024 with a variety of new models and variants. For BMW, it will introduce eDrive20 variants of both the iX1 and iX2 in the first half of the year, with plans to offer 12 fully electric variants by the middle of 2024. The new electric Cooper and Countryman are set to land in NZ later this year too, bolstering Mini’s local push towards an electric future.
“Highlights have been across the board, notably for our range of battery electric vehicles with outstanding year-on-year growth,” adds Shaver.
“We now look ahead to continuing the momentum in 2024, with the arrival of new BEVs in key growth segments and supporting this model rollout with the continued expansion of our destination charging program.”
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