Autoindustrie: China-Krise zieht BMW beim Absatz ins Minus

China's automotive crisis is dragging BMW down in terms of sales, as reported by the company. Despite recording more vehicle sales in Europe and the US compared to the previous year, BMW has to accept a 6.3 percent decline to 551,072 vehicles at the group level, according to the announcement. This performance is better than that of their German competitors, who are experiencing losses ranging from 8 to nearly 20 percent.

The decline for BMW is mainly attributed to poor sales in China, where all major European manufacturers are facing a pricing war in a shrinking market. BMW is not immune to this market condition: sales in China have plummeted by 24.8 percent to 114,355 units. In Europe, BMW benefits from strong demand for electric vehicles, particularly the iX3, the company's first vehicle in the new class.

BMW's Vice President of Sales, Jochen Goller, attributes the model's success to "strong growth momentum." Across all vehicle types, sales increased by 2.7 percent to 235,628 units. Electric vehicles saw an even more impressive 37.5 percent increase to 81,941. This dominance in the electric vehicle segment is exclusive to Europe, with only 110,257 BEVs sold worldwide.

In the US, BMW's sales also rise. The Munich-based company benefits from their local factory in Spartanburg, which helps to avoid high tariffs on many of the vehicles sold in the US. The result is a 2.5 percent increase to 106,741 vehicles. Should the opposing trends in the US and China continue, the two markets could swap places as the second and third largest automotive markets globally within a foreseeable future.

When looking at brand-specific performance, BMW has fared slightly worse, with a 6.8 percent decline. Mini sales dropped by 2.4 percent to 70,712 vehicles, while Rolls-Royce sales fell by 18 percent to just 1,069 units. After nine months, BMW now has a total of 1.7 million delivered vehicles, a 4.9 percent decrease compared to the previous year.

"Despite the challenging global market landscape, we have managed to hold our own in Europe and the US," concludes BMW's Vice President of Sales, Jochen Goller. "In particular, continued strong order inflows for electric vehicles confirm our strategy."