BMW sales stagnate, electric cars show uptick in first half of 2024

German carmaker BMW on Wednesday posted lacklustre results for the first half of 2024, with total sales of 1.2 million vehicles across all regions.

Overall, the sales volume was 0.1 percentage points less than a year ago.

The BMW core brand performed slightly better with 1.1 million cars sold and growth of 2.3%. Subsidiaries Mini and Rolls-Royce weakened with declines of 18.7% to 114,000 cars and 11.4% to 2,819.

The results were slightly better for purely electric cars. Sales across the group increased by almost a quarter to more than 190,000 units, and more than a third at the core BMW brand.

However, the results were significantly weaker than in the previous full year. In 2023, BMW reported growth of almost three quarters for purely electric vehicles.

Looking at the different regions of the world, the latest figures didn't produce any major anomalies. Sales fell slightly in Germany and Asia, including China, while showing a small increase in Europe and the US.

The group's business can still be assessed as positive "in a challenging market environment," according to Chief Sales Officer Jochen Goller.

"In the first six months of the year, we succeeded in achieving double-digit growth with fully electric vehicles and models from the upper premium segment," Goller said.