BMW did not release specific figures for its BEV sales in China.

In the first three quarters, the BMW Group delivered 592,873 BMW and MINI vehicles to customers in China, with sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) up 65 percent year-on-year, the German luxury carmaker announced today.

BMW did not release specific sales figures, except for the growth rate of BEV sales.

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) publishes a monthly list of the top 15 sellers of new energy vehicles (NEVs), but BMW has never made the list.

In addition to the BMW iX, BMW i4, BMW iX3 and BMW i3, BMW will also bring the BMW i7 to Chinese consumers, the automaker said in a statement today.

As the world's first all-electric luxury flagship sedan from BMW, the BMW i7 will further strengthen BMW's all-electric product lineup, it said.

(Image credit: BMW)

In the global market, BMW delivered 1,747,889 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce-branded vehicles in the first three quarters, it said.

Of these, sales of BEV models under the BMW and MINI brands rose 114.8 percent year-on-year to 128,196 units, BMW said.

BMW officially launched the BMW i3, an all-electric version of the hot-selling BMW 3 Series in China on March 31, and it is currently available only to local consumers.

On May 5, the BMW i3 rolled off the production line at BMW's Lydia plant, the third vehicle plant at the Shenyang production site.

This indicates a further acceleration of BMW's electrification in China, the German luxury carmaker said at the time, adding that with the launch of the new BMW i3 and the debut of the BMW i7, BMW has presented five pure electric models to Chinese customers.

It's worth noting that BMW's electric models don't seem to be getting much traction in China, with consumers' attention drawn to models from local car companies including Nio, Xpeng Motors and Li Auto.

The last time BMW's electric vehicles attracted widespread attention was when a BMW i3 caught fire in its chassis during normal driving.

A former BMW dealership store manager said BMW's NEVs are difficult to sell, and the sales targets set by the automaker each month are basically difficult to meet, according to a report by local media Jiemian on July 27.