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Ladies and Gentlemen,
The figures for the primary quarter of 2024 underline as soon as once more that: Our technique for long-term, worthwhile development is strong and efficient – particularly within the dynamic setting wherein we function.
These situations are the identical for all gamers inside our business. However, there are at present three distinct teams of economic actors, every with their very own strategy.
1. The newcomers: those who generate numerous hype with single merchandise. They usually have solely particular person technological highlights, reminiscent of most efficiency, the most important vary or the most important display screen.
It stays to be seen whether or not the general package deal will meet excessive buyer expectations, particularly within the premium section, over your complete lifecycle.
Additionally, they face the problem of managing complexity as they scale up and develop. Market entry can be purchased with aggressive value positioning.
2. Then, there are the established producers, who’re making an attempt to repeat these new gamers’ strategy, however run the danger of shedding their very own identification.
3. And, lastly, there are a selection of producers who’re struggling to maintain tempo with change – and due to this fact stay entrenched of their conventional enterprise fashions.
In this aggressive house, the BMW Group continues to chart its personal, balanced course.
And we stay true to ourselves.
We analyse and anticipate each present and future developments with out prejudging the result. From this, we develop our strategic approaches. The capability to reply to market developments, buyer wants and new technological approaches is crucial.
This has earned us a number one place in e-mobility and, on the identical time, allowed us to take care of persistently excessive profitability, even in a risky setting.
For 9 quarters in a row, our EBIT margin within the Automotive Segment has been inside our goal vary of 8 – 10 % or increased, prefer it was within the first quarter of 2023. Walter Mertl already defined the explanations for this.
Our improvement efforts are centered on applied sciences that ship actual added worth for our clients. Decades of market expertise have taught us what our clients need all through your complete buyer journey. We use this information and our technological experience to create the right total idea.
This shouldn’t be straightforward to duplicate.
The BMW Group can be one of many few “true” world gamers within the automotive business. From manufacturing, to gross sales, to suppliers – we’re in a robust place in all main markets.
We have effectively established footprints in every area together with a local-for-local mindset.
This world strategy is our biggest power. It creates resilience, opens up alternatives and retains us versatile.
We are constructing on this to leverage our enterprise success – as we speak and sooner or later.
A take a look at world areas exhibits that markets and buyer demand proceed to develop in a extremely diversified means. Maintaining a presence in all main gross sales markets allows us to steadiness out these totally different developments.
Our distinctive BMW strategy permits us to reply flexibly to altering demand, particularly in terms of drive applied sciences.
But let me be fairly clear: We proceed to ramp up e-mobility at a quick tempo that our opponents can barely sustain with.
Just a number of weeks in the past, we hit an vital milestone: Since the market launch of the BMW i3, now we have delivered multiple million all-electric autos to clients. This confirms the attraction of our fully-electric product vary.
This can be backed up by our present figures within the Chinese BEV market. With development of greater than 18% in China within the first quarter, BMW outperformed each the full marketplace for electrical autos and the electrical premium section.
This means: We are gaining section share on the planet’s greatest e-mobility market.
However, our success in China is not only evident from the numbers. The BMW Group is held in excessive regard there as a “local player”.
I skilled this after I was a part of the enterprise delegation led by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in April. And we had been additionally very happy that Premier Li Qiang took the time to go to the BMW Group stand at Auto China in Beijing.
We are assured about long-term financial prospects in China. We are due to this fact comprehensively making ready our three way partnership BBA’s manufacturing web site in Shenyang for future car fashions.
In late April, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding to this impact in Shenyang, for investments totalling round 2.5 billion euros.
Our extremely diversified electrical providing, throughout BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, is not only in demand in China, however worldwide.
With gross sales up by about 28 %, fully-electric autos as soon as once more made an vital contribution to the BMW Group’s gross sales development and earnings within the first quarter of 2024.
At Auto China, a number of weeks in the past, we offered two autos that may reinforce this pattern:
the all-new fully-electric MINI Aceman* and an replace to the electrical BMW i4*.
The BMW i4 comes straight from the guts of the BMW model and is a hit story in its personal proper. People love its mixture of e-drive, design and signature driving dynamics – all of the issues they affiliate with the BMW model.
More than 80,000 clients purchased a BMW i4 final 12 months – making it one of many best-selling BEVs in your complete premium section.
MINI can be persevering with on a path that’s simply as brand-authentic and fashionable.
The “New MINI Family” is an actual sport changer that reimagines the model’s distinctive British heritage in a completely new means for the long run.
The all-electric MINI Aceman brings recent impulses. With this newest addition, the New MINI Family now options three fashions that serve totally different segments and attraction to new buyer teams.
This will allow us to proceed and develop the MINI success story in our world markets.
Our development and financial success as we speak are laying a stable basis for the long run.
We are investing greater than ever in creating new merchandise, environment friendly applied sciences and automatic driving features, in addition to in digitalisation.
As the most important single funding within the historical past of the corporate, the NEUE KLASSE exhibits how we’re redefining the BMW model for the long run.
From design, to drive trains, to completely new types of digital interplay between human and machine – the NEUE KLASSE represents an enormous leap into the long run throughout nearly all fields of know-how.
All future BMW fashions will profit from this – no matter their drive know-how. In this fashion, we’re in a position to make sure that our clients at all times have the most recent know-how on board.
The NEUE KLASSE will begin out with a Sports Activity Vehicle and a sedan within the present 3 Series section.
We offered a glimpse of what this future will appear to be for BMW at our Annual Conference.
The BMW Vision Neue Klasse and the BMW Vision Neue Klasse X showcase each the consistency and the breadth of the NEUE KLASSE.
There is loads of room between the 2 autos for innovation and new fashions – and we intend to make use of it.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The BMW Group is rising – regardless of the numerous totally different challenges we face. Even in instances of change, we ship optimistic monetary outcomes at a persistently excessive degree.
The course we’re charting as we speak will allow us to construct on this success sooner or later – throughout all our manufacturers and merchandise, with next-generation applied sciences and throughout the firm.
We are in a robust place globally and sustaining our management of the worldwide premium section.
We recognise that there are numerous new gamers seeking to achieve a foothold on this extremely engaging section – and, after all, we’re taking this very critically.
But this isn’t a one-way road. You might be certain of that: Every participant on this business, whether or not an formidable newcomer or a longtime producer, can be conserving a really shut eye on the BMW Group.