Figures released by the carmaker, show that deliveries of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles increased 6.8% to total 177,741 in the last month.

Meanwhile, a total of 826,865 vehicles was delivered in the first five months of the year, up 7.4% on the previous year’s figure of 770,012 units.

‘The BMW Group continued to achieve record sales in May, keeping us well on track to sell over two million vehicles in 2014,’ said Ian Robertson, member of the board of management of BMW AG, sales and marketing BMW. ‘Customer demand in the USA is showing solid growth, as is the Americas region as a whole, whilst Asia continues to be strong. Sales this year in Europe are also showing some signs of recovery,’ Mr Robertson added.

Sales of BMW brand vehicles rose 10.0% in May with a total of 153,023 vehicles being delivered to customers. Sales for the year-to-date climbed 10.9% to 722,129.

Strong sellers included the BMW 2 Series, which has been on sale since March, with sales-to-date reaching 7,842. 3 Series sales were up 2.1% year to date. continued growth with a total of 193,866 sold in the year-to-date (prev. yr. 189,830 / +2.1%).

Sales of the BMW i3 continue to be positive with a total of 4,154 delivered in the first five months of 2014.

In contrast, MINI saw a decline in May, with deliveries of 24,373 MINIs units (prev. yr. 26,958 / -9.6%). Year-to-date sales decreased 12.4% with a total of 103,158 units delivered (prev. yr. 117,697). BMW said the decrease in sales is in line with expectations and is due to the recent model change in the core MINI Hatch model. Customer interest in the new MINI is strong and this is expected to be reflected in the retail figures from summer onwards.

Continuing its strategy of balanced sales growth worldwide, the BMW Group increased sales in all three major sales regions in the first five months of 2014.

Asia saw deliveries of BMW and MINI models increase by 19.7% to 264,094 vehicles (prev. yr. 220,576) in the year-to-date. In mainland China, sales rose 24.6% to 184,823 (prev. yr. 148,319). Sales continue to show double-digit growth in South Korea, where 18,221 vehicles were delivered in the first five months of the year (prev. yr. 15,330 / +18.9%). In the year-to-date, Japan saw growth of 7.2% (25,210 / prev. yr. 23,517).

A total of 178,126 BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered to customers in the Americas in the year-to-date (prev. yr. 171,636 / +3.8%). In the USA, sales in the first five months of 2014 rose 4.9%, with a total of 145,957 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 139,142). In Brazil, 6,979 vehicles were delivered to customers (prev. yr. 6,013 / +16.1%) and sales in Mexico rose 6.7% to 5.620 (prev. yr. 5,269).

The gradual recovery of the European market continues with a total of 358,949 BMW and MINI models delivered in the first five months of the year (prev. yr. 351,997 / +2.0%). Scandinavia continues to show significant growth in the year-to-date, climbing 16.9% to 17,816 vehicles (prev. yr. 15,235). Double-digit growth was also recorded in Spain, where sales to the end of May rose 11.8% with a total of 16,679 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 14,917).