BMW is the most profitable automaker in 1st half of 2017

We are already past the first six months of the year, and now is the time when automakers evaluate their performance within this period. Speaking of numbers, Daimler and Volkswagen are some of the largest automakers out there, being part of the top 15 worldwide rankings in 2015, where Toyota is ranked first, and VW is just behind it. But here is the thing, Daimler and VW are not at par with the levels of revenue being experienced by BMW so far this year.

Ernst & Young have been studying the numbers for the German publication Manager Magazine, and they found that BMW earned as much as €49.25 billion ($51.5 billion) in the first half of this year alone, that is equal to a profit of €5.58 billion ($6.68 billion) with a profit margin of 11.3 percent. Looking at many other figures from other automakers, no one is close to what BMW has earned in the past six months.
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GermanNut - 9/1/2017 3:15:47 PM

-1 Boost

"As for the United States and the European market, the German company is doing pretty well with steady sales."

So an almost 10% sales decline in 2016 and a 4.6% decline through July 2017 in th U.S. market is considered steady? Would a sales decline of 2% be considered "growing"?

What an awful article. BMW is also trailing far behind when it comes to autonomous driving so its profit will obviously be higher since it hasn't experienced the high research and development costs that Audi has.

jameswisrik - 9/1/2017 7:35:10 PM

-2 Boost

UNTIL THOSE EXPLOSIVE CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS COME....EXPLOSIVE...UNKOWN EXPLOSIONS ...EXPLOSIVE BMW...KA BOOOM.... BMW EXPLODING, ON FIRE FOR UNKOWN REASONS....KA BOOM

Firewombat - 9/2/2017 3:02:58 AM

+3 Boost

@GermanNut agreed, what an awful article. How dare somebody write an article with positive news that isn't about Audi? The nerve.

We already know Audi makes the least profit compared to its main competitors, it's been like this for a while, so this shouldn't be a surprise to you if it matters that much.

That's with both BMW and MB having electric cars on the market for a number of years now, the development costs that go along with that, and Audi having none. I suppose Dieselgate and related corruption scandals also don't help the situation at VAG / Audi.

valhallakey - 9/2/2017 10:13:32 AM

+3 Boost

You would certainly think Audi would be the most profitable. Probably 90% of the cars they sell are basically VWs underneath with a big mark up.

Firewombat - 9/2/2017 12:46:18 PM

+2 Boost

@Valhallakey don't worry about Bob, they allow internet access at certain times in the facility he's based in.

TheSteve - 9/1/2017 6:42:51 PM

+2 Boost

As much as it's good news that BMW is the "most profitable" car company, I feel the even bigger news is that BMW is *consistently* profitable. This has been true for decades[1], in spite of changing economies and demographics, shifting markets, increasing globalization, and recessions. This fact strongly suggests that whether you like BMW or you hate them, BMW is doing an awful lot right!

_____
[1] Except for that 1 year when BMW paid to unload Rover and had a huge 1-time write-down.

skytop - 9/2/2017 10:12:41 AM

0 Boost

BMW is most profitable because buyers get far less than they pay for.

Firewombat - 9/2/2017 12:47:49 PM

+3 Boost

So much maturity in these 2 comments :)

GermanNut - 9/2/2017 5:51:21 PM

0 Boost

The cost of developing an electric vehicle is far lower than the cost of developing an autonomous vehicle. BMW trails Audi by a huge margin in terms of autonomous driving capabilities so it has incurred far lower costs than Audi, which has lead to BMW's higher profit.

However, autonomous driving is the key to the future. Audi is very smart to incur the heavy costs now to be at the forefront of a technology that will change the industry as we know it.

Firewombat - 9/3/2017 5:38:51 AM

+3 Boost

Thanks for the response GermanNut, can you provide us with any information proving development costs for PEVs is less than the investments companies are making into autonomous driving? Can't seem to find any on the interwebs. I also can't find anything about Audi having a huge margin in autonomous driving capability that is legally compliant compared to its rivals.

fcocco - 9/4/2017 6:25:34 AM

+3 Boost

"The cost of developing an electric vehicle is far lower than the cost of developing an autonomous vehicle" You've got to be kidding!!!

MDarringer - 9/4/2017 9:07:29 AM

+1 Boost

Think about it clearly. The amount of technology and programming to make an autonomous system truly work is still years away, whereas EVs are everywhere. EV technology is hardly a challenge to engineer.

Firewombat - 9/4/2017 9:33:28 AM

+3 Boost

@Fcocco I know but GermanNut doesn't kid around, he takes his job very seriously.

@MD Not a bad point but EVs may be everywhere because a number of manufactures were willing to invest in the technology first. Automakers who don't have PEVs, like Audi, are able to take advantage of that initial investment later on.

Also, a lot of companies are pursuing autonomous driving in the hopes of being a supplier of the technology to car companies. So outsourcing spares a lot of the development cost, as you'll know many technologies are outsourced to companies and therefore shared between manufacturers.

At the same time, this comment was from GNut and therefore we have to take everything that goes along with that...

fcocco - 9/4/2017 9:53:24 AM

+2 Boost

I think everyone agrees that the investment needed for the production of an EV is largely higher then the one you have to make to produce a car with autonomous driving.
In the first case you have, for example, the investment BMW did on the production of the CF body to lower the weight, and in the second you will "only" have to add some CPUs, cameras and radars to the car.

MDarringer - 9/4/2017 1:24:11 PM

0 Boost

That is absolutely illogical reasoning.

GermanNut - 9/4/2017 12:10:29 PM

+1 Boost

While a lot of the autonomous driving technology is in fact outsourced, it isn't cheap. To get Nvidia, NXP or some other chip/sensor company to develop technology costs money and a lot of it.

Audi is investing in a technology that is still a ways out, but will change the industry completely. BMW has invested more into EVs. Right now, autonomous driving is an early stage technology whereas electric cars are certainly a more mature technology.

Without a lot of other companies investing so heavily in autonomous tech, it is Audi that will bare the heavy costs but that's okay because autonomous driving will disrupt the industry in a much larger way than electric vehicles when it is approved.

The first fundamental change is the hours people spend in traffic that could be spend more productively like doing work. That's just the first of many advantages that come to my mind right now.

Firewombat - 9/5/2017 7:51:59 AM

+1 Boost

Also, the article was about parent companies, i.e. VAG / Damiler / BMW Group so Audi wouldn't feature as it's a subsidiary, sub brand, of VW and development costs would be counted toward VW. Similarly, any development costs would also not be their own. Audi will not bare the costs, VW will. Think about it like Dieselgate, Audi created the initial source code for the cheating software and then VW spead that around between brands and models. It was VW that was ultimately fined. So, while you're trying to push Audi into this situation, the article doesn't include them, no matter how little their profit is.

fcocco - 9/5/2017 6:49:30 AM

+1 Boost

3 Articles about this:
https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/04/self-driving-car-timeline-for-11-top-automakers/

http://www.businessinsider.fr/us/the-companies-most-likely-to-get-driverless-cars-on-the-road-first-2017-4/#5-volkswagen-group-14

http://www.businessinsider.fr/us/companies-making-driverless-cars-by-2020-2017-1/


No big difference between Audi and all the others... (The only difference is when you talk about EV)