The car manufacturer BMW sold 2.55 million cars last year, generated sales of 155.5 billion euros and a profit before taxes (EBIT) of 18.4 billion euros, as the group showed in its report on Thursday
. It is the highest operating result in the car manufacturer’s history.
Despite the current market weakness, the car manufacturer wants significantly more this year Electric cars The company also announced that it would sell. Overall, deliveries of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles in 2024 are likely to be slightly above the previous year’s level. The proportion of fully electric vehicles in deliveries is expected to increase significantly. After the start of trading in a friendly market, BMW shares lost 0.5 percent to 105.84 euros.
“The more challenging the framework conditions become, the more important it is to implement a consistent strategy,” said BMW boss Oliver Zipse (60). At the beginning of the year, demand for electric cars was particularly strong in the USA, it was said, but also in Europe China Deliveries of fully electric models would have increased by a double-digit percentage.
By 2030, half of BMW cars will be fully electric
BMW has only announced that it will only offer electric cars for the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands from the beginning of the 2030s. For the core brand BMW, the Munich-based company is hoping for additional boost from the New Class vehicles, which will be produced from 2025. Even before 2030, more than half of the BMW vehicles delivered worldwide could have a fully electric drive. BMW is currently converting its factories and building battery factories where the batteries for electric cars will be assembled. Investment and development spending are likely to peak in the current year and decline thereafter, it said.
At the same time, the group is sticking to its long-term target return in the automotive business and expects free cash flow of more than six billion euros. “Our focus remains on cost discipline and sustainable profitability – the long-term corridor of 8 to 10 percent EBIT margin in the automotive segment remains our benchmark.” Last year it was 9.8 percent, near the upper end of the range. Analysts had previously expected a figure of just over 9 percent for the new year.
However, the Munich-based company is preparing for headwinds in used car prices, which is likely to dampen profits overall. The normalization of supply and demand continues. It is assumed that the remarketing revenue from lease returns will continue to decline compared to 2023.