Against a rather mixed backdrop for electric cars, BMW AG (ETR:BMW) appears to be bucking the trend.
For on Friday, it weighed in with a robust third-quarter performance in its automotive division, attributing its success to sales of its premium and electric vehicles (EVs), which will be instrumental in meeting its yearly targets.
Automotive margins improved to 9.8%, and even further to 10.8% when adjusting for BMW's increased stake in the Chinese joint venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive.
Despite a modest 3.4% increase in group revenues to €38.5 billion, surpassing analyst expectations, net profit dipped by 7.7% due to the previous year's profit boost from the BBA deal. BMW has retained an optimistic outlook, echoing its previous margin forecast upgrade in August.
Year-to-date, BMW has seen a 5.1% increase in sales, with EV sales comprising 15.1% in the third quarter, slightly above the planned target for the year. The automotive segment's free cash flow is at €5.7 billion, closely approaching the anticipated €6 billion for the full year.
The upmarket German carmaker's success contrasts with a rather lacklustre picture across the wider EV market, which has seen Ford postponing US$12 billion in planned EV production, GM dropping its target to build 400,000 electric cars through mid-2024, and Volkswagen Group (XETRA:VOW) cancelling plans for a new US$2 billion EV factory.