BMW will still remain as the biggest luxury car manufacturer as sales in China went up 8.3 percent. Luxury vehicles are being sold in the emerging market China, adding to worldwide sales.
Last Q2, sales increased by 8.3% or a total of 458,000 vehicles. The number includes sales of the 2-series compact, 4-serious coupe, and other new models.
Demand in Europe and China are getting stronger than ever. Forecast for the last quarter was only a 2.23 billion but the carmaker topped it at 2.6 billion euros or $3 billion USD.
This is good news from the automotive industry in Europe where sales have been on a slump the past six years. But with the emerging markets like China, strong demand for luxury cars is experienced once again. Demand in Europe is still low though but the increase in sales last Q2 is a good sign. Even the crisis in Russia has an effect to automotive sales.
BMW still has the biggest rivals in Volkswagen, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. The quarterly automotive EBIT margin of BMW is at 11.7 percent, beating the other companies at 7.9 percent by Mercedes-Benz and 9.9 percent by Audi.
The German car company has been making changes in its offering lineup and has even discontinued the 3-series, both the convertible and coupe versions. While sales in China helped BMW sales, the launch of the I3 electric car and its sale in the US and Japan also helped.
"The BMW Group increased sales volume, revenues and group earnings in both the second quarter and the six-month reporting periods, continuing the successful development of our business," Norbert Reithofer, CEO of BMW said.
BMW was named the No. 1 luxury brand in the world last year and seems like it will stay on top as it aims for the 10 percent increase in pretax profits.
It also aims to achieve two million sales this 2014 and looks like it is possible. Last 2013, the BMW Group (BMW, Mini, and Rolls Royce) sold about 1.96 million cars worldwide. With its introduction of 16 new and refreshed models this year, looks like BMW can reach its target.
