BMW is coming off a strong year in the United States. Deliveries jumped 4.7% to 388,897 units, an all-time high. 2025 marked the third consecutive year of growth, and now the company is aiming for a fourth. 2026 has gotten off to a positive start, with sales up in January, although the automaker doesn’t release monthly breakdowns. We’ll have to wait until the end of the first quarter to see the full January–March numbers.
At the 2026 NADA Show in Las Vegas this week, BMW of North America CEO Sebastian Mackensen expressed confidence about another record year:
“We definitely want to grow, which means we want to have a fourth record in a row by logical consequence. We will do that by doing a lot of things the same way as we had in 2025.”
BMW has every reason to feel optimistic about another year of record-breaking sales. A wave of new models should help sustain momentum and ideally push volumes even higher. First customer deliveries of the new iX3 won’t begin until this summer, but the Neue Klasse SUV is expected to make a meaningful contribution to BMW’s 2026 results. It’s already a massive success in Europe.
The next-generation X5 (G65) should also go on sale before the end of the year. However, its impact is unlikely to be felt as strongly as that of the iX3. Production of the large luxury SUV doesn’t start until August, making late fall or early winter the earliest realistic window for customer deliveries. The outgoing X5 was BMW’s second best-selling model in the U.S. last year, with 76,246 units sold, trailing the smaller X3 by just 300 vehicles. Despite its age, the “G05” still posted a 5.4% increase over 2024.
Like the next X5, the 7 Series (G70) facelift is expected to enter production in July. While the flagship sedan isn’t a volume seller, the LCI should help renew interest in the model. In 2025, BMW delivered 11,393 units of the 7 Series in the US, representing a 6.3% year-over-year gain.
We wouldn’t expect the next 3 Series (G50) to reach the U.S. this year. The eighth-generation sports sedan will enter production late in 2026 and is likely to arrive stateside in 2027, joining the already confirmed electric i3.
While it remains to be seen whether BMW sales can reach 400,000 units, 2026 should be yet another good year.
Source: Automotive News
