BMW has made it crystal clear that it won’t abandon internal combustion engines anytime soon. However, it has an aggressive electric model rollout that is already paying off in many parts of the world. The UK would be one of them considering a quarter of all the cars the company sold in 2023 didn’t have a gas/diesel engine. EVs generated 28,723 sales, a massive boost of 34% over the previous year.
Demand for zero-emission models was fueled by the i4, which was the company’s best-selling EV in the country last year with 8,940 units or 33% more than in 2022. The iX1 was also a hot commodity, racking up sales of 7,101 units over the course of last year. BMW UK reckons 2024 could be even better thanks to the recently launched i5 and the iX2 due in March. In addition, the i5 Touring will hit the local market later this year.
The best-selling BMW product across the range was the 1 Series with 22,855 units, representing a significant increase of 64% year-over-year. At the other end of the lineup, the X7 fullsize SUV enjoyed a 9% boost in popularity, likely due to the updates brought by the mid-cycle facelift.
The M division also had a great 2023 when shipments were up by 19.4% to 4,536 units thanks to the M3 Touring and the new M2. Side note – almost half of the M3s sold last year in the UK were the long-roof G81 model.
Overall, BMW UK shipped 111,734 last year in the country, up by 3% compared to the year before. That means approximately 20% of all premium cars sold in 2023 had the famous roundel.
As for MINI, the Oxford-based marque had a solid 2023 by increasing shipment to 47,594 units (+4%). On its home turf, the British brand’s most popular cars were the 3-Door Hatch with 39% of all shipments and the Countryman with 25%.
Combined, the BMW Group UK generated a volume of 159,328 units in 2023, up by 3.1% compared to the year before.
On a related note, MINI’s Oxford plant built over 43,000 EVs last year. The next-generation electric hatch won’t enter production until 2026 when the Aceman subcompact crossover is programmed to roll off the assembly line. In the meantime, these two EVs will only be built in China by Spotlight Automotive, a joint venture between BMW and Great Wall Motor.
Source: BMW UK
