BMW posts record Middle East sales, up 9% in 2011

New car sales for BMW Group Middle East rose by nine percent in 2011, a new record for regional sales. A total of 18,657 BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered to customers across 14 Middle East markets, with a number of markets recording double digit growth. The UAE remained the biggest market, accounting for 47 percent of BMW Group Middle East's 2011 sales. Abu Dhabi was the highest volume selling market, with a 23 percent growth and 4,436 cars sold while Dubai also witnessed an increase of 23 percent with 4,395 cars sold. Other top performing markets included Qatar by 26 percent (1,265 cars), Saudi Arabia, with a 2 percent sales increase (3,072 cars) and Kuwait and Bahrain both with a 6 percent increase. Also among the markets with the biggest growth were Yemen and Pakistan with 37 percent and 27 percent growth respectively, BMW said in a statement. Dr Joerg Breuer, managing director, BMW Group Middle East said: "The Middle East is enjoying robust growth across all sectors of the automotive industry, with the luxury segment in particular growing substantially. "These market factors coupled with the commitment of our importer partners and the launch of seven new models during 2011, have helped drive our 9 percent sales growth." The company's flagship BMW 7 Series remained the highest volume selling model with 4,511 cars sold in the Middle East. MINI achieved a 77 percent growth in 2011 across eight Middle East markets and sales of 1,108 cars - the strongest growth ever since the brand was launched in the Middle East 11 years ago. In the UAE, Dubai was the biggest MINI market, with an increase of 164 percent (493 cars) while Abu Dhabi saw growth of 63 percent (196 cars).