BMW hits major milestone as Q1 EV sales outpace rivals

BMW just hit a milestone after reaching the one million EV delivery mark as sales surged in the first quarter of 2024. With EV sales climbing in all major regions, BMW outpaced the competition in Q1.

BMW hits one million EV sales milestone in Q1 2024

“The BMW Group is continuing on its BEV growth path. With the delivery of its one-millionth fully electric vehicle since the market launch of the BMW i3, we have reached an important milestone that confirms the attractiveness of our product portfolio,” BMW’s head of customer, brand, and sales, Jochen Goller, boasted on Wednesday.

The milestone comes after BMW launched the i3 as its first fully electric car in 2013. Nissan hit the milestone last July after the first LEAF model rolled out in 2010.

BMW delivered 82,700 fully electric BMW, MINI, and Rolls Royce vehicles in the first three months of the year. That’s up 28% from last year and enough to outpace rival luxury automakers.

Overall sales climbed slightly to 584,671 in Q1 (+1.1%), but BMW’s electric vehicles were the main reason for the growth.

BMW brand delivered 78,691 fully electric vehicles in Q1, up 40.6% from last year. According to BMW, the i4, iX3, iX1, iX, and i7 were “particularly in demand.”

The new iX2 is garnering positive feedback after hitting the market last month. BMW’s new all-electric i5 is also seeing demand.

Outpacing rivals in the EV market

BMW’s growth in Q1 was enough to outpace rivals Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. Mercedes-Benz Group sold 568,400 vehicles in the first three months of the year, down 6% YOY.

Mercedes brand EV sales also slipped 8% from last year, with 47,500 all-electric vehicles sold in Q1. Overall group EV sales fell to 50,500, down 9% from last year.

Volkswagen Group Q1 deliveries were up 3%, with 2.1 million vehicles sold. However, VW’s EV sales were also down, falling by 3% year over year to 136,400. Although EV sales in China climbed 91%, it was not enough to offset the fallout in Europe (-24%) and the US (-16%).

Despite the decline, VW said orders from Western Europe “developed positively” in the first three months of the year. Volkswagen’s EV order bank is at around 160,000, more than double (+154%) from last year.

The VW ID.4 and ID.5 were its most popular EV models, with 34,600 sold in Q1, followed by the ID.3 (26,100), Audi Q4 e-tron (22,800), and Skoda Enyaq (14,000).

In the US, VW Group sold 227,100 vehicles total (+5% YOY), but EV sales fell 16% to 13,200. The automaker is launching new electric models this year including the ID.7 Tourer, ID.Buzz with a long wheelbase and the highly anticipated Porsche Macan EV.

BMW expects double-digit sales growth in 2024, with fully electric vehicles and high-end models as the main drivers.

The news comes after BMW’s CFO Walter Mertl told the media in January, “The tipping point for combustion engines was last year.” The financial leader said BMW’s order books are well-filled with plans to continue growing EV sales this year.

BMW signed a long-term partnership with electric hypercar specialist Rimac Tech this week for next-gen EV batteries. The batteries are expected to be used in BMW’s upcoming “Neue Klasse” vehicles.