BMW USA Sep Total Sales +3.6% To 19,175 Units

For the first time this year, Germany's BMW Group (BMW and MINI combined) reported an increase in sales in the U.S. compared to the same month last year, the company said Thursday.

MAIN FACTS:

-In September, sales increased by 3.6% to 19,175 units compared to 18,506 vehicles sold in September 2008.

-The BMW Group also reported a year-to-date sales volume of 179,219 vehicles, down 24.2%, compared to 236,327 vehicles sold in the first nine months of last year.

-Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 2.1% in September for a total of 15,047 vehicles compared to 14,744 vehicles reported in the same month a year ago driven by strong passenger car sales.

-BMW???s sports activity vehicles saw a decline compared to last year in part due to limited inventory of the X5 after the better than expected Advanced Diesel X5 model sales volume.

-Year-to-date, BMW brand sales were down 26.3% to 144,223 vehicles compared to 195,633 vehicles sold in the same period of 2008.

-???For now, we???ll take this first small bit of good news but the premium segment is not out of the woods yet as consumers keep on reacting cautiously to the mixed signals in the economy,??? said Jim O???Donnell, President of BMW of North America, LLC. ???For BMW, we expect the bumpy road to continue into next quarter in advance of 2010, when we see consumer confidence improving and a major launch of new BMW products start to hit the market.???

-Sales of BMW???s Certified Pre-Owned vehicles increased 4.2%, to 8,033 CPO vehicles versus 7,707 vehicles reported in September a year ago; year-to-date, CPO sales were up 9.6%, to 84,515 over the 77,144 reported in the same period of 2008.