BMW sold a total of 2,100,692 units worldwide, a drop of 5.1% from the previous year, while Mercedes reported 2,043,900 sales, a decline of 1.0%. Numbers from Audi have not yet been released, but the brand has traditionally lagged behind BMW and Mercedes.
One bright spot for BMW was the increase in sales of its hybrid and electric vehicles, which rose by 35.6% to a total of 372,956 units. Mercedes also saw growth in this area, with sales of its plug-in and fully electric cars rising by 19% to 319,200 units. When combined with sales from its Smart brand, nearly half of all cars sold by Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars in 2022 were battery-powered, accounting for 44% of overall retail unit sales.
Mini, a subsidiary of BMW, saw a small decline of 3.0% compared to the previous year, with the Mini Cooper SE being the best-selling model for the brand, with 43,744 sales worldwide, an increase of over 25% compared to 2021. In total, BMW and Mini delivered 215,755 battery-powered cars, a 107.7% increase from their sales in 2021.
While BMW Group's Rolls-Royce brand was the only one to post an increase in deliveries, with 6,021 cars sold, Mercedes-Maybach also had a record-breaking year, with 21,600 units delivered, a 37% increase from 2021.
Despite the decline in sales for both brands, BMW and Mercedes saw positive signs of recovery in the final quarter of 2022. BMW reported a 10.6% growth in Q4 2022, while Mercedes registered a 17% increase compared to Q3 2022.
Source: Motor1