BERLIN: The BMW Group delivered just under 2.4 million vehicles in 2022, down 4.8% from the year before, with brand sales down 5.1% as supply chain bottlenecks caused by lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine dampened deliveries.

Still, the fourth quarter saw a 10.6% rise in sales as bottlenecks eased, the carmaker said. Sales of fully-electric vehicles also performed well, more than doubling to 215,755 across the year.

“We are confident we can build on this success in 2023, as we continue to see particularly high order intake for our fully-electric models,” said Pieter Nota, member of the board of management of BMW AG responsible for customer, brands and sales.

BMW weathered the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic better than competitors, achieving record sales in 2021, but suffered in 2022 as supply chain problems persisted.

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Still, it has so far offset the dip in sales volumes with higher prices, with third-quarter profits rising in 2022.

The carmaker also said on Tuesday it was moving to a direct sales model in 24 European markets, with agents acting as sales representatives, it said, with the aim of reaching out to “new, online-savvy customer target groups”.

MINIs will be sold via this model from 2024, with the BMW brand to follow in 2026.