BMW’s third-quarter pretax profit rose 9.6 percent to $2.87 billion, mainly due to rebounding Chinese demand for luxury cars.
The German automaker enjoyed a 9.8 percent increase in deliveries of its vehicles during the quarter, with the 31 percent spike in China offsetting a 15.7 percent drop in the US.
The company expects to achieve an EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin of between 0 percent and 3 percent for the automotive segment in 2020.
The automotive EBIT margin rebounded to 6.7 percent from minus 10.4 percent in the second quarter and 6.6 percent last year, despite a 50 percent surge jump in sales of lower-margin electric and hybrid cars.
However, BMW expects overall deliveries of high-end vehicles and group pretax profit to be significantly lower than last year due to the high level of risk of the pandemic, which is regaining momentum.
