The 2008 financial for BMW Motorrad are in, and the verdict is CH-CHING! Despite what the economies around the world are saying, BMW sold 101,685 bikes in 2008, just .8% off of last year’s numbers. Continue reading to see the full sales breakdown, and win a free kitten.
Interestingly, BMW’s sales were up over 9% in the month of December compared to last year’s numbers, which gives insight into how the company has been weathering the financial storm. In fact, the bulk of BMW’s growth came in the second half of 2008. Despite the general decline of the motorcycle market, BMW Motorrad has grown in some European markets such as Italy, France, Great Britain/Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Poland as well as in South America and South Africa.
In Germany, the largest market for BMW Motorrad, sales were down by 17.9%. However despite this fall, BMW maintained its position as market leader is the whole market. The German market shrunk by 8% in 2008, clearly taking things on the nose. As in 2007, Italy remains the second largest market for BMW Motorrad. BMW grew by over 11% in Italy, while the industry as a whole constricted by 8.6%. The U.S. market, third by volume, fell by 4.6%. BMW was able to make a small improvement in the US by claiming 1.8% over 2007’s 1.7% of total US market share.
The rest of the worldwide numbers are the following:
Spain – 20.4% 10,152 units
(2007: 10,384 units) 9.0%
(2007: 7.3%)France – 3.0% 8,019 units
(2007: 7,590 units) 7.7%
(2007: 7.1%)UK – 5.8% 5,850 units
(2007: 5,100 units) 8.3%
(2007: 6.8%)South Africa – 8.1% 3,313 units
(2007: 2,762 units) 12.8%
(2007: 9.8%)
The best-selling model in 2008 was the R 1200 GS (22,845 units) followed by the model R 1200 GS Adventure (12,460 units). In third place, the R 1200 RT Touring with 11,001 registrations.
The new models of the family F, available from March 2008 and on (since the beginning of 2008 in overseas markets), are among the best-selling models in the BMW lines. The F 800 GS (4th in sales) had 10,261 in sales, while the F 650 GS (5th in sales) had 9,644 in sales.
Husqvarna Motorcycles, owned by BMW Motorrad, has grown by almost one third in 2008. Husqvarna, the oldest motorcycle brand in the world has reached 13,511 in motorcycle sales in its first year after its acquisition by BMW. This growth was mainly driven by overseas markets.
Sorry, we’re fresh out of kittens.
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