German Car Zone

"We fear no competitors," says BMW’s UK Marketing Director

At the end of September official SMMT show that for the first nine months of this year new UK car sales were down by 5.2 per cent overall but BMW’s sales have increased by 10 per cent.

In the registration plate change month of September, the overall UK new car market was down 3.2 per cent but BMW sales increased by 17 per cent. BMW say some of this growth can be attributed to the launch of the new 3 Series Touring models. But in general they say demand for premium car brands has only slowed by 2 per cent in the UK this year as opposed to much bigger losses in the non-premium volume sectors where there have been less private and fleet customers.

Sales to business buyers this year show a 17.3 per cent increase for the market as a whole, a sector BMW are traditionally strong in.

This year BMW expect to sell in the UK between 105,000 and 110,000 new passenger cars, an all-time sales record, and each year from 2001 will have been a record year for them.

The UK remains BMW’s third largest market in the world. The leading market is Germany, followed by the USA. In fourth place is Italy, which accounts for just half the number of BMW sales in the UK.

Uwe Ellinghaus, marketing director of BMW (UK) Ltd said yesterday, "As a German company we are used to dealing with rising and falling new car markets. We can vary our production schedules accordingly to meet demand. We are only successful because we know how to deliver a premium brand strategy as we have shown this year with our new model ranges and new engine options."

"We fear no competitors but we take them all seriously. Even though Mercedes-Benz sales in the UK are down this year we still take them seriously because they are undertaking a new product cycle - but traditionally Mercedes customers are different to BMW buyers. Audi customers are closer in age to BMW owners but why should anybody by a good copy if the genuine product is available?"

"We have undertaken a new model offensive this year by introducing five significant new or revised new model ranges, the 3 Series Saloon, 3 Series Touring, 7 Series mid-life update, the M5 and shortly the M6. These follow on from the very successful introduction last year of the 1 Series Saloon and Touring. In addition the company had introduced 32 new or upgraded engines to their model range this year."

This is the single largest introduction of engine variants in BMW’s 89 year history. Now the BMW range consists of eight individual model series with a total of 191 variants – more than three times as many models as were offered in 1997.

For 2006 Ellinghaus does not see another 10 per cent increase in BMW UK sales because they will not be introducing any similar relatively high volume model ranges, although they will be launching other significant new vehicles. He added he was not worried by the overall downturn in the UK market but it is difficult to predict our future sales growth. Although the overall UK new car market is currently down by 5 per cent, the important business sector is showing real growth.

Overall across the entire BMW range retail customers’ account for 45 per cent of UK sales.

This year BMW expect their 1 Series range to account for 18 per cent of their total sales, the 3 Series - 43 per cent, the 5 Series -16 per cent, the X3 -10 per cent, the X5 -10 per cent and the 7 Series, 6 Series and Z4 with a combined total of 3 per cent.

Source: http://www.easier.com/view/News/Moto...cle-29386.html

Cool attitude but sometimes self-confident people might get a fist in the face. I think that happen to Mercedes.

Ouch!

Wow, that's pretty in your face...
If you asked me where the 4th biggest sales of BMW are, I would have never ever expected Italy as the answer.

Arrogant? BMW?

BMW has taken a swipe at Audi.

Uwe Ellinghaus, marketing director of BMW (UK) Ltd said, "Audi customers are closer in age to BMW owners but why should anybody buy a good copy if the genuine product is available?" He said he took Mercedes seriously, "but traditionally Mercedes customers are different to BMW buyers." As BMW barely acknowledges non-German competitors, that rather suggests BMW sees itself as being in a class of its own.

In the UK, BMW is doing extremely well, with expected sales this year of between 105,000 and 110,000 - a new record. The UK is the third largest market for BMW after Germany and the USA, and takes twice as many cars as the fourth largest market, Italy.

Source: http://motoring.reuters.co.uk/reuter...nk=101&id=1401

I don't get it. Where Audi is a copying BMW? Exterior design is not close , engineering is much different , interiors don't look the same. Obviously he doesn't know much about cars.

I think what he meant was that Audi are copying hte direction that BMW has been taking... i.e younger crowd, much more aggressive styling compared to previous generations... Not to say that I agree with it.

I 'm not saying that BMW copies Audi but for example Audi went first into the luxury hatchback segment with A3 and it took BMW 8 years to follow with 1 series. Also Audi was the first to use AWD which BMW recently adopted.
On the other hand BMW entered first the SUV segment with X5 and Audi was late to follow. Some things were first done by Audi others by BMW. To say Audi is following BMW shows ignorance and arrogance at the same time.

Wow BMW hired a Fanboy as their marketing director... wohoo,, this might give hope to many fanboys.. make yourself heard on the web.. and they might hire you..

Too much confidence isn't healthy. Even though BMW is going throught a great period it doesn't mean that they have reached the top. It is hard to sell more cars than the competitiors during a year but it's even harder to stay at the top.

At least he seems to show some respect for Mercedes although he implies that the potential Mercedes owners are older than the BMW ones.