BMW’s Financial Forecast Grows Despite Drop In Profit

BMW today maintained financial guidance for 2026 despite a sharp drop in first-quarter net profit, down 23 percent year-on-year to 1.67 billion euros, as the company beat expectations for profit margins, driving shares up five percent.

Quarterly revenues fell by 8.1 percent year-on-year to 31 billion euros, while sales decreased by 3.5 percent, to 565,780 vehicles, primarily due to weaker results in China.

According to BMW, pre-tax profit fell by about 25 percent to 2.3 billion euros, but was still above analysts’ expectations, reports Reuters.

Despite this, the core operating margin in the automotive segment was five percent, which is above the expected 4.7 percent, although weaker than the 6.9 percent of the previous year.

BMW expects its margin in the core automotive business to be in the range of four to six percent during 2026.

The company is recording strong growth in orders in Europe, and outgoing CEO Oliver Cipse points out that this shows the correctness of the strategy of developing the new generation of “Neue Klasse” vehicles.

The company’s financial director, Walter Mertl, said that the company will continue to control costs in a demanding economic environment but without announcing major savings programmes, “Virshaftsvohe” reports.

Cipse will remain at the head of the BMW company until May 13, after which he will be succeeded by the current director of production, Milan Nedeljković, an expert of Serbian origin.

• Also See: BMW Quietly Stops The Sale Of The iX Electric SUV In The US