BMW's $1 billion plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, may help reverse the tide of slumping sales in the Americas, which are down 8% in the first six months of 2016.
The BMW Group posted record net income, sales and revenue for the second quarter, while maintaining its impressive margins. The results continued a trend that began with a strong first quarter.
As it recorded its best ever quarterly sales volume and net profit figures between April and June, the company wrapped up negotiations with Intel and Mobileye that reflect the company’s effort “to play a leading role in developing safe and reliable automated driving,” BMW said in a statement that accompanied the second-quarter financial statement.
“We sold more vehicles in the second quarter than ever before and achieved record earnings. We are growing profitably while simultaneously implementing our strategy step by step,” said Harald Krüger, chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.
“Sustainable profitability on this scale provides us with the financial headroom we need to pursue our work on future technologies such as electric mobility and automated driving. For me, there is no ‘either/or’ between the present and the future. The strength of today’s core business is the cornerstone for tomorrow’s success,” he said.
Sales of BMW Group’s three brands – BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce – climbed by 5.7% to 605,534 units, marking a new high for a quarter, Krüger said, while revenue increased by 4.5% to 25 billion euros.
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The new Mini Clubman ALL4 is helping to bolster sales of the popular brand.
Earnings before interest and taxes or EBIT totaled 2.73 billion euros, which was 7.9% higher than one year earlier. Net income rose by 11.4% to 1.95 billion euros, a new record for a second quarter.
The company’s second quarter sales results built on a strong first quarter with the end result being a new record. Automotive segment unit sales rose by 5.8% to reach a new high of 1,163,139 vehicles as the company’s strategy of balancing sales worldwide continued to pay off, allowing fluctuations in some markets to be offset, Krüger said.
BMW’s sales in Europe and Asia have been outstanding with increases of 11.2% and 7.3% respectively. Great Britain, France and Italy have all posted double-digit jumps for the first half of the year, while China and Japan both rose more than 7%.
However, the first six months have not been as kind in the U.S. as sales have fallen 10.2% to 179,102 vehicles.
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“A look at the EBIT margin for the past 25 quarters shows that we do not only focus on short-term results,” noted Friedrich Eichiner, member of the Board of Management responsible for Finance.
“More importantly, we concentrate on what we consider to be our primary responsibility: delivering consistently good results, even in volatile times, in order that we can finance and shape the company’s future based on our own underlying strength.”
The company’s strong first-half performance gave executives good reason to confirm its earlier guidance for 2016.
(U.S. car sales sputter slightly in July. For more, Click Here.)
“We forecast slight increases, and hence new record figures, for Automotive segment sales volume and profit before tax in 2016,” said Krüger in a released statement. Automotive segment revenues are also set to grow slightly over the year as a whole on the back of higher sales volumes. The EBIT margin of the Automotive segment in 2016 is forecast to remain within the targeted range of between 8 and 10%.