If BMW had a banner year in 2019 because of product, the brand has still more reason to be optimistic about 2020: The automaker will have 12 new products this year.
“If I look at 2019, we had a real momentum in the market after Q1,” Shaun Bugbee, BMW executive vice president of operations, told Automotive News outside of its make meeting Sunday. “That momentum is driven by product.”
Bugbee told dealers in the meeting that the momentum will continue. “We feel we have our mix in the right spot between cars and crossovers,” he said. “We expect to grow more than the premium segment. The goal will be to gain market share.”
BMW had a banner year in 2019, besting German rival Mercedes-Benz to take the luxury sales crown. BMW delivered 324,826 vehicles in the U.S. last year, up 4.4 percent.
But the meeting also touched on retailer profitability. The outlook improved last year, but more can be done, said BMW National Dealer Forum Chairman Patrick Womack.
“We’ve addressed some of the low-hanging fruit with things we can work on and fix immediately,” he said. “And then there’s some higher-hanging fruit that we are still working on.”
To drive foot traffic and lift dealer profitability, BMW will ramp up its marketing spend. “There has been a commitment from BMW that they’re going to create more noise around the brand and drive people to our stores,” Womack said.