Self-inflicted production delays, owing to large-scale range refreshment, spoilt BMW Motorrad’s party in 2018. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
Annual revenue from BMW bike operations was 4.4% down to £1.865bn. Resultant operating profit declined by 15.5% to £150m. Operating margin slipped from 9.1% to 8.1%. Pretax profit was 17.6% lower at £145m. Total production sank by 12.4% to 162,687 units.
One of only two vaguely upbeat headlines in its results statement concerned meagre 0.9% growth for global retail sales to a tally of 165,566 motorcycles and scooters — an eighth consecutive yearly improvement. The other was a trend-bucking 2.2% rise to 13,842 deliveries in the otherwise shrinking US market.
Overall European sales dropped by 3.3% to 98,144. Germany suffered a 10.7% dive to 23,824. France stagnated, dead flat on 16,615. Italy was 2.2% down to 14,110. Spain lost a fairly marginal 0.6% at 11,124. The UK fell by 3% to 9013.
An incidental detail that stood out was that, since July 2018, Chinese manufacturer Loncin has been churning out BMW maxiscooters at its Chongqing factory. TVS in India also continues to make all the brand’s G310R and G310GS entry-level motorcycles. Â
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