After record 2015 results, BMW expects lower sales this year

Asian Carmakers Corp., official distributor of premium luxury vehicle brand BMW in the Philippines, expects lower sales growth of less than half of its record 38.5 percent growth in 2015, which was driven by pre-sold units used for the APEC delegates.

Maricar Parco, ACC president, told business reporters at the launch of the all-new BMW 7 series, they would be happy with a 15 percent growth this year which is consistent with the industry’s growth forecast.

“We finished 2015 with a milestone as we finally reached the 1,000 mark to give us 38 percent growth, but we will be happy with a 15 percent growth in 2016,” Parco said. The luxury car segment goes by the price definition of 2 million and above per unit.

Parco explained that the 2015 record growth was largely fueled by sales of more than 300 units of mostly BMW 5 Series, which were used as shuttle cars for the APEC officials meetings last year.

The APEC vehicles were pre-sold to customers, who agreed to buy the slightly used vehicles, mileage of 1,000 kilometers and at 15 percent depreciated price. The units were delivered to the owners 10 days after they were used by APEC. There were at least 20 to 30 BMW units deployed in each of the various APEC meetings in different parts of the country.

ACC also rented to the government 10 BMW security vehicles for the heads of state meetings but which were reexported to Germany already.

All in all, the APEC vehicles accounted for a third of ACC’s 1,000 unit sales in 2015.

For this year, Parco said, sales will be driven by the introduction of volume model X1 series in April and 3 Series LCI, a refreshed BMW 3 Series.

The BMW 7 Series, which have 2 variants the 750 and 740 command a price of 12.49 million and 8.49 million, respectively. With such price levels, these models cannot become volume driver but could secure them continued dominance in the premium luxury segment.

The 7 Series 750 variant is BMW’s priciest model available in the local market. It is equipped with state of the art technology, including hand gestures and choices of themed sunroofs. There are a total of13 BMW models available locally.

Parco also said there are very few BMW models called BMW individual which are customized for specific customers. These are mostly armored vehicles, which are fitted with security, topnotch technology, special effects like seats and upholstery in Germany, but would take 5 months to deliver.

“You’ll be surprised,” Parco said on the growing market for its premium cars. She said that even during crisis times when the overall car sales declined, the luxury cars continued to post high growth. This indicates of a stable consumer base, she said.

Parco also noted that the premium and luxury car market has already recovered from a slump three years ago where the segment sales declined by 6 percent. The slump before 2013 was largely caused by the stigma from the Bureau of Internal Revenue on buyers of luxury items.

From sales of 2,000 units, sales already recovered to 3,000 units with BMW cornering 30 percent market share. All premium brands also posted strong growth except for one brand.