German car manufacturer BMW announced Tuesday that its global vehicle deliveries, including MINI and Rolls-Royce, dropped by 23 percent year-on-year to a total of 962,575 units in the first half of 2020.

Sales figures for the first six months "were impacted by the effects of the temporary closure of retail outlets worldwide" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to BMW.

However, BMW saw a "positive development in China, where our second-quarter sales were once again higher than in the previous year," said Pieter Nota, member of the board of management of BMW responsible for customer, brands and sales.

Although sales of BMW and MINI in China in the first six months dropped by 6 percent to 329,069 vehicles, sales in the second quarter were already up 17 percent year-on-year.

The sales situation in the United States "varies from state to state," BMW noted. By mid-June, all retail outlets had reopened for the first time since early March, but deliveries to customers of BMW and MINI vehicles in the first half dropped by around 30 percent.

In Europe, deliveries of BMW and MINI vehicles declined similarly, down by 32 percent between January and June, according to the German car manufacturer. With 40,734 sold, the share of electrified vehicles, however, increased to almost 11 percent.