Revised BMW 3 Series saloon and Touring on sale now

The nip and tuck revised versions of the BMW 3 Series Saloon and Touring estate models for 2009 went on sale in the UK from 20 September.

The facelifted 3 Series mainstream models start at £21,475 on-the-road for a 318i ES Saloon and £22,665 for a 318i ES Touring. They rise for the 335i and 335d Touring models which are now priced at £36,170 and £38,250 respectively.

The Younger 3 Series Coupe and Cabriolet models are not due for their styling updates until late next year at the earliest.

BMW UK said this week that the average price increase for the revised models was just 0.62% or an average of £169 over the outgoing versions. This latest increase is in addition to the 1.0% retail price hike introduced for all BMW models in July.

BMW say the increases reflect the escalating cost of raw materials, components and the reduction in the value of the Pound against the Euro.

The BMW 3 Series was introduced 33 years ago and Saloons are now in their fifth generation and Touring estates their fourth. The latest updates come at a time when the range is halfway through its six to seven year life cycle.

The 3 Series (all versions) is BMW’s best selling UK model range with 58,544 registrations last year. That represents 45% of total BMW UK new car sales. On average 53% of 3 Series sales are to business or corporate customers.

The single best-selling models are the 320d diesel versions with 12,015 units sold last year, 65% of them to corporate users.

Second in the sales chart are the 318i petrol models with 5,832 registrations, 55% to retail customers.

Third most popular are the 318d diesel models with 3,232 UK sales last year, with 65% to business users.

James Morrison, BMW UK’s 3 Series Product Manager said this week at the UK media launch of the revised range that in the current economic climate 3 Series sales would be around the same this year as last but in 2009, in line with industry predictions, they expected to see a small fall in 3 Series sales overall.

Currently the company has seen a 3.4% move by UK 3 Series owners downsizing to their 1 Series models due to the economic climate but there has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of BMW owners choosing a 1 Series model as a second car over other makes.

He added that with a decade of record UK sales behind them BMW still expects to at least match last year’s 121,575 new car sales in the UK in 2008 and their year to date registrations are up 7.9%. In future years any growth will come from the introduction of additional model ranges such as the X1 compact SUV.

BMW UK also revealed this week that their corporate sales department had reported that companies were starting to set a ceiling of 160g/km of CO2 emissions on cars for company employees up to Director level because of increasing road tax and Benefit-in-Kind charges.

Their all-new 330d, 245bhp, 520Nm diesel engine launched with the revised 3 Series range has a CO2 rating of 152g/km which attracts £145 in road tax and 21% Benefit-in-Kind company car tax.

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