MINI Is the Only BMW Group Car Brand Still Growing in 2026

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MINI is the only BMW Group car brand still growing this year, with deliveries up 6.8 percent through September. The brand delivered 220,247 cars through the end of September according to BMW Group’s third-quarter report, while the BMW brand is down 6.4 percent and Rolls-Royce is down 12.4 percent. That growth comes with a catch: the third quarter on its own was softer, with MINI delivering 70,712 cars, down 2.4 percent.

Those two numbers are worth reading together. A year-to-date gain of 6.8 percent alongside a quarterly dip of 2.4 percent means the first half of the year was stronger than the headline suggests, and momentum eased over the summer. MINI still made up about 13 percent of the group’s 551,075 deliveries in the quarter, which fell 6.3 percent overall.

The wider group picture is why this matters. BMW Group’s profit before tax fell 10.6 percent to €2.08 billion in the quarter, and the car business margin, which is how much BMW keeps from each euro of car sales after paying its bills, was 3.4 percent against 5.2 percent a year ago. BMW attributes about 1.25 points of that to import tariffs. Cash flow in the car business turned negative in the quarter, at minus €566 million. China was the weak point, with group sales down about 25 percent in line with the market.

BMW has also cut its 2026 profit forecast. It now expects the car business margin to land between minus 0.5 and plus 0.5 percent, down from 1 to 3 percent, because of one-off charges in the fourth quarter. Those come from retiring older models and battery technology earlier than planned as the Neue Klasse ramps up, and from cutting management roles faster. Without them, BMW says the margin would still be above 2.0 percent, and its cash flow forecast is unchanged at more than €2.5 billion. In June, BMW had already cut the same range from 4 to 6 percent to 1 to 3 percent, pointing to China and the Middle East conflict.

What this means for MINI is less clear. The release does not break out MINI profit, name the brand in the guidance change, or say anything about the Cooper and Countryman ranges. The Neue Klasse is a BMW brand programme, and the direct sales model BMW plans for Europe next year is described for the BMW brand only. The one item that could reach MINI is the chairman’s pledge to review and reduce variants across the portfolio. That is group-wide wording, and BMW did not say it applies to MINI, so treat it as something to watch rather than news. It would be consistent with a company trying to cut complexity and cost.

The takeaway is that MINI is doing its job inside a group under margin pressure. A brand growing while the rest of the group shrinks is useful, and it makes MINI harder to ignore when BMW decides where to spend. Watch the fourth quarter and the full-year numbers in March. If the summer slowdown continues, the year-to-date lead will shrink quickly.

Related: MINI USA Sales Q3 2026: The Convertible Closes In On The Hardtop 2 Door

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