BMW delivered a relatively strong performance last year given the difficult market conditions, the Munich-based automaker announced on Thursday. Net profit fell slightly to €7.45 billion, while vehicle deliveries edged up marginally, a result that stands in stark contrast to the massive profit slumps reported by both Volkswagen and Mercedes.
BMW's biggest challenge last year came from China, where sales collapsed by 12.5 percent. However, the group said it was able to "compensate for this through growth in other regions of the world." In Europe, the automaker sold 7.3 percent more vehicles, while sales on American markets rose by 5.6 percent. Overall, total deliveries climbed 0.5 percent to 2,463,681 vehicles. Revenue, however, declined by 6.3 percent to just under €133.5 billion.
BMW's profit margin came in at 5.3 percent, landing at the lower end of the company's target corridor of five to seven percent. A particularly significant drag on the margin came from import tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, which cost the company around 1.5 percentage points of margin. Looking ahead to 2026, BMW expects elevated tariffs to once again reduce its margin by 1.25 percentage points.
"Growth drivers for the BMW Group remain battery electric vehicles," the company stated. Sales of fully electric vehicles rose by 3.6 percent, with purely electric models accounting for 17.9 percent of all vehicles sold. "We have positioned ourselves strategically correctly in recent years. We are benefiting from that today," said BMW CEO Oliver Zipse.
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