BMW 2010 gentle growth
November 19th, 2009 by Richard Aucock
BMW board member Ian Robertson predicts 2010 will be a year of ‘gentle growth’ for the firm.
‘It will not be rapid,’ he said, but recent upturns in markets will continue.
He was speaking at the firm’s annual press dinner, where he detailed how BMW had coped during the past year’s recession. The company, he explained, had started to see issues late last year.
‘However, few knew the significance of these.’
BMW responded by decisively cutting car production across the board. This saw the firm end the year within 2000 units of sales and forecasts. ‘No other company came close.’
This bold lowering of production will see the firm emerge from the recession in a very strong position.
BMW will end 2009 10-15 percent down year-on-year, he added. Currently, the figures are worse than this, but ‘the next 6 weeks will see solid growth to get to this target.’ What’s more, BMW has remained in profit compared with the competition.
The firm will end 2009 as ‘the world’s largest premium maker, again,’ with sales in excess of 1 million vehicles.
Future model development programmes have also not been affected. The X1 and 5 Series GT are on sale now, with more niche models arriving next year. There will also be model replacements – it’s too early to confirm these, but a spokesman said ‘look to the oldest models in our range for a clue…’
Early next week, Car Dealer Magazine will also bring you an exclusive inside line on the new 5 Series, a car Robertson says is ‘probably the best-designed vehicle BMW has ever done.’
Come back on Monday evening for our preview!
By Richard Aucock