BMW recorded its highest ever sales for a third-quarter due to rising demand for SUVs among younger generations, a balanced delivery distribution of vehicles across the world, and good performance of newer models. It delivered 657,105 vehicles, registering a 4% YoY volume growth, but a 6% QoQ decline. This against a background of shaky consumer demand in China and the US. BMW is slowly transitioning towards new technologies with progress in both shared mobility, electric and autonomous vehicles (AV).

Regionally, BMW remained strong in the EU and the US, and moderate growth in China amid weak market demand. Its performance is driven by the higher demand for premium segment vehicles and improving availability for EV charging stations. Strong partnerships among OEMs, charging infrastructure firms, and shared mobility players helped BMW to grow customer engagement in mobility services by 10.6% QoQ.

BMW propelling toward electric, shared and autonomous mobility

The automotive industry is becoming more complex day by day, so BMW is trying to take a slow and steady approach towards transitioning into electric and autonomous mobility.

In the electric vehicles (EV) space which includes battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), BMW is maintaining a balanced production of EV and non-EVs. According to Counterpoint Research’s analysis, BMW held an 8% market share in global electric vehicle sales in Q3 2019. In the third quarter, the penetration of EVs in BMW’s deliveries was 6%. This is expected to reach 10% by Q3 2020. BMW has already announced that 25 EVs (including 13 BEVs) are to be launched by 2023. We expect at least three EV model will come in the next year. And two of these will be available in China; the single largest EV market and a driving force behind electric vehicle adoption.

In the AV space, BMW is concentrating on testing, programming and simulation of vehicles. BMW has already collected 2000 Petabytes of data up to September 2019 for developing better simulation systems. BMW’s new simulation centre is expected to be ready by 2020, giving an impetus to its self-driving capabilities. This will enable the launch of the iNEXT line of vehicles with Level 3 and Level 4 automation by 2021 and 2024, respectively. We at Counterpoint Research believe that the penetration of AVs with Level 1 and Level 2 to reach 72% by Q3 2020 from 64% in Q3 2019.

Highlights of Q3 2019:

• Although BMW set a new record for the highest third quarterly delivery, the total car delivery reached 613,361 units in Q3 2019 decreasing by 5% from Q2 2019.
• Motorcycle deliveries were down by 20% QoQ to reach 43,744 units.
• Q3 2019 revenue was €26.7 billion increasing 7.9% QoQ.
• The total customer engagement which refers to the number of interactions on shared mobility, parking and charging infrastructure platform reached 83 million at the end of Q3 2019 from 75 million in Q2 2019.
• Electric vehicle sales increased by 14% QoQ to reach 36,977 in Q3 2019