BMW's 2011 profit margin comes in second to Audi

Repost??

Profit margin isn't anything a consumer should be happy about. It means that they (BMW and Audi) are masters at giving you less for more money.

Not true. The fact that their margins are so high is an indicator that consumers feel like they're getting more for their money. (They do decide what they want to pay, don't they?) Furthermore, the last thing you want to do is buy a depreciable asset that will require future service and parts from company that's not making a profit; see Fisker.

High profit margins are directly related to the perceived value of the product and the amount of money the consumer is willing to pay for it. In a nutshell, it means Audi and BMW make highly desirable products. Why should the consumer be happy about this? Because the company then has more cash to reinvest into product development which then makes their products even more desirable which then increases their profit margins further which means they have even more to reinvest into advanced product development.......Yes the company is making money - that's why companies do business- but the car-buying consumer also wins because they have access to exceptional products.

JustaCar, I could not have said it better. Often we need to look past the book cover and analyze things a bit deeper. I personally would rather buy a product from a company that is successful and profitable because that tells me people are more willing to buy their products vs the competitors, and that is overwhelmingly due to a better product.

I don't know why this is a surprise at all. Audi's are well known to be the fake premium in the big three German brands as they just use VW cars and put a different skin and badge on to sell at BMW prices. So obviously they are cheaper VW cars and would make higher profits as opposed to BMW and Mercs that are true premium vehicles in and out.

AUDI is more profitable simply because the parts are VW. They buy the parts in much bigger numbers making their parts cheaper and yet they still sell for similar prices to BMW. It's purely economies of scale - nothing to do with perceived value.