Automobilindustrie: Gewinn von BMW schrumpft - und es wird noch schlimmer

BMW's profits are shrinking, and the decline is expected to worsen further. In the third quarter, the company made 1.45 billion euros after taxes, a 15 percent drop compared to the previous year. Moreover, forecasts for the current fourth quarter are grim following a profit warning issued on Tuesday evening. The main driver of the decline is poor performance in China, where BMW, like all German manufacturers, suffers from a shrinking global automotive market, intense competition, and fierce price wars.

The Munich-based company lost about one-quarter of its sales in China. However, they weren't as reliant on the Chinese market as competitors such as Audi. BMW managed to offset some of the losses in Europe and the US, resulting in a 6.3 percent decline in sales. Revenue shrank minimally by 5.8 percent, reaching 30.5 billion euros.

A profit warning was issued just before the quarter's numbers were released, marking the second such warning in a year, and the third within 13 months. The gross margin before finance (EBIT) for the current year is now expected to be between minus 0.5 and plus 0.5 percent, down from the previous forecast of 1 to 3 percent. This implies that the company could be losing money in its core business due to the success of its cost-cutting program, which began in early October and was closed after just three weeks due to a surprisingly high interest among employees to leave the company for salaries often in the six-figure range.

BMW expects costs of nearly one billion euros as an investment in the future, with further reductions coming from phasing out older models earlier than planned. Financial chief Walter Mertl sees these costs as an investment in the future, saying, "Speed is a success factor for our planned realignment, so we will intensify efficiency and structural measures this year."

CEO Milan Nedeljkovic also emphasized the importance of speed: "The development in our industry requires decisive decisions and rapid implementation. We will intensify and expedite structural measures accordingly." The company now expects a modest sales decline of 5 to 9.9 percent, up from the previous forecast of 1 to 4.9 percent.

The profit outlook remained unchanged, but BMW had already predicted a significant decline exceeding 15 percent since the first profit warning in early summer. BMW's third-quarter results were slightly worse than those of competitor Mercedes, which reported a 1.52 billion euro profit, but significantly better than Audi and VW.