Auto: BMW Goes 8 Years of Record Sales

The BMW Group once again demonstrated its ability to generate sustained profitability in 2017, posting its eighth successive record year. Despite a significant increase in upfront expenditure for future mobility the company reported its best ever figures to date for sales volume, revenues and earnings. In addition, the BMW Group delivered more than 100,000 electrified vehicles to customers for the first time in a single year, firmly underpinning the Group’s role as a pioneer and key driver of electric mobility. In line with its Strategy NUMBER ONE > NEXT, the BMW Group continues to play a leading role in transforming the mobility sector with its future-oriented ACES programme: Automated, Connected, Electrified and Services.

“We can look back on the most successful year in our corporate history and have achieved record levels for revenues and earnings for the eighth year in succession,” stated Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG in Munich on Thursday. “Since 2016, we have taken numerous strategic decisions to further grow our business on a sustainable basis in the years ahead.”

Automotive sales volume increased by 4.1% to a new record level of 2,463,526 units in 2017 (2016: 2,367,603 units). With its three premium automotive brands, BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group asserted its position as the world’s leading manufacturer of premium vehicles. Deliveries of electrified vehicles jumped by 65.6% to 103,080 units, driven by the all-electric BMW i3 sales which have risen every year since the model’s market launch in 2013. The BMW Group intends to increase the sales volume of electrified vehicles to at least 140,000 units in 2018 and bring more than half a million electrified vehicles onto the roads by the end of 2019.

Group revenues rose to a new record level of € 98,678 million in 2017 (2016: € 94,163 million; +4.8%), with currency effects slightly restraining growth. Profit before financial result (EBIT) rose by 5.3% to € 9,880 million (2016: € 9,386 million). Group profit before tax (EBT) went up significantly year-on-year, partly helped by favourable valuation effects, and – thanks to a 10.2% rise to € 10,655 million (2016: € 9,665 million) – finished the year for the first time above the ten-billion-euro mark. As in the previous year, all three operating segments – Automotive, Motorcycles and Financial Services – reported record pre-tax earnings, each making a contribution to earnings growth in 2017. The pre-tax return on sales (EBT margin) for the Group improved to 10.8% (2016: 10.3%), ensuring that the BMW Group remains one of the automobile industry’s leaders when it comes to profitability.

With its highly attractive model range, the BMW Group expects worldwide deliveries of its vehicles to rise in 2018. The increasing availability of the new BMW X3 and the launch of appealing new products such as the BMW Z4 or the BMW 8 Series are likely to provide additional momentum. “This year we are targeting another new sales record, with deliveries slightly up on the previous year”, Krüger stated. At the same time, the BMW Group expects the political and economic environment to remain volatile.