BMW headquarters in Munich
The carmaker has invested heavily in e-mobility and now has to save.
HamburgThe car maker BMW aggravates austerity measures and reduces personnel due to high investments in electromobility and the weaker economy. The consolidated earnings before tax will probably be well below the previous year in 2019, the Munich-based carmaker announced on Wednesday. Facing the challenges and strains BMW its efforts to improve efficiency. By the end of 2022, a total of more than twelve billion euros will be saved.
The operating margin in the auto business is expected to reach between six and eight percent this year, having fallen by two percentage points to 7.2 percent in 2018. The target return of eight to ten percent in the upper-class segment remains the fundamental requirement in a stable environment. BMW must consistently work on its earning power in order to continue its transformation of the industry on its own.
Krüger also indicated a reduction in staff, in which he said the number of employees should remain at the previous year’s level despite the hiring of IT specialists in future fields such as digitization, autonomous driving and electromobility. “We have a higher natural turnover compared to previous years due to baby boomers.” This gives BMW the opportunity to focus more on future topics and to raise efficiencies.
Net income declined by nearly 17 percent last year to 7.2 billion euros, as both the rebate battles for the introduction of the stricter emissions test WLTP and international trade conflicts broke into the office.
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