BMW Group delivered 116,452 vehicles under the BMW and Mini brands in the first quarter, a decline of 31 percent from the same period last year.
The German group blamed the drop on the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic “led to a significant decrease in sales in China”, it said.
But China sales improved last month, the Germany automaker noted.
Around 95 percent of BMW’s retail outlets in China are now open for business, the company said.
“In a welcome development, this trend was reversed in March, pointing to a sustainable recovery in this market,” Pieter Nota, BMW’s management board member responsible for customers, brands and sales, said in a statement.
BMW didn’t disclose separate China sales for March.
In China, BMW builds and markets vehicles for the BMW brand with Brilliance China Automotive in the northeast China city of Shenyang.
In November, its newly formed joint venture with Great Wall Motor Co. started constructing a plant in the east China city of Zhangjiagang, which will assemble full electric vehicles for Mini and Great Wall’s proprietary brands.
The other two major German luxury brands – Audi and Mercedes-Benz -- haven’t released China sales for the first three months yet.
Source:This news has been taken from https://www.autonews.com/
