The BMW X6, once the automotive darling of BMW enthusiasts is quickly fading into memory and piling up on dealer lots. A quick search and phone call to various major BMW dealers shows there at least two or three at every dealership. Some dealerships have upwards of ten units in stock. BMW once proudly proclaimed that the X6 had been sold out. What they failed to mention is that they were sold out to dealers, not consumers.
Initial BMW had plans to build 40,000 units of the X6 annually. They claimed that the U.S. was expected to take up 20,000 of the production run. BMW then changed their forecast and said that only 8,000 units would be sold in the U.S.
The X6 went on sale in April of 2008 and in 10 months has only sold 4,814 units. They are going to be well short of their stated goals.
One publication proclaimed that the BMW X6 was better than its main rival, the FX. BMW sold 266 X6's last month while Infiniti cleaned house and sold 1,417 FX's. At this rate, BMW will only sell a little under 3,200 units for all of 2009, while Infiniti will rack up almost 17,000 units in sales.
Heartbroken enthusiasts and rabid fans will rarely ever admit that their brand can do anything wrong. Is the BMW X6 a colossal sales failure?