BMW’s people-mover pays off

We’ve been, at best, derisive about BMW’s push into people-movers, or minivans as they're known in the US.

The segment has faded across Europe and the rest of the world as SUVs come to the fore and, besides, BMW made its name with rear-drive sedans, coupes and wagons.

Yet there is the 2-Series Active Tourer and its big brother, the Grand Tourer, kicking butt in the segment in Europe’s EU and EFTA markets this year, and all at a far higher profit margin than anything else in the class.

The front-drive five- and seven-seat wagons are built on the same architecture as the current MINI and have outsold their only real premium rival, Mercedes-Benz’s stodgy B-Class, comfortably in its first year.

In fact, the 2 Series vans have outsold segment regulars like Ford’s C-MAX and Renault’s Scenic, losing out only to Volkswagen’s big-selling Touran and Citroen’s C4 Picasso.

The Active Tourer and Grand Tourer have the highest average price of any car sold in the segment (€35,688, according to JATO Dynamics), though demand may be peaking after dropping around seven per cent in September.

BMW sold 77,644 of its 2 Series twins to the end of September this year, with the Touran heading the list at 88,169 and the C4 Picasso about 3000 cars behind it. By contrast, Mercedes-Benz only sold 56,325 B-Classes.