BMW Group third-quarter sales fall 6.3% as China weighs

BMW Group has released its global delivery figures for the third quarter of 2026. The group's car sales in the July-September period fell 6.3% from the same period a year earlier to 551,072 units. For the first nine months of the year, total deliveries were down 4.9% at 1,707,799 units.

Quarterly losses in China

China was the main reason for the decline. The end of incentives for electric vehicles and a slowing economy shrank the market there. BMW's third-quarter deliveries in China dropped 24.8% to 114,355 units.

The U.S., meanwhile, is becoming one of the group's increasingly important markets. The company raised its sales there by 2.5% in the third quarter to 106,741 units, and deliveries in the U.S. since the start of the year have topped 373,000 vehicles. Building large SUVs such as the X3, X5 and X7 at its Spartanburg plant in South Carolina shields the brand from the impact of high U.S. tariffs.

Electric momentum in Europe

Europe was the region where the group continued to grow. Total sales rose 2.7% to 235,628 units, while sales of fully electric models jumped 37.5% to 81,941. Demand for the iX3, the first model of the "Neue Klasse" (New Class) strategy, played a decisive role. As a result, one in every three BMWs delivered in Europe was fully electric. Most of the group's 110,257 fully electric deliveries worldwide also came from the region.

The group's other brands also saw declines. Mini sales fell 2.4% to 70,712 units. Rolls-Royce deliveries dropped 18% to 1,069 as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East weighed on luxury spending. BMW Motorrad, reported as a separate segment, sold 46,605 motorcycles, down 12.5%.

BMW Group board member Jochen Goller said the company had held its ground in Europe and the U.S. despite challenging global conditions. Goller described strong order intake for fully electric models as a sign that the strategy being pursued is the right one.