BMW anticipates stronger sales in 2019

The car manufacturer's sales growth slowed to 1.8 per cent last year, the lowest in a decade.

Trump said that he would agree to zero-tariff levels on some trade with Europe but wouldn’t on autos without the concession to manufacture in the US. REUTERS

BMW said it’s on course to deliver another sales increase this year as revamped models like the X7 sport utility vehicle and solid growth in China offset challenging market conditions.

Deliveries are expected to rise by a low- to mid-single digit amount, the Munich-based company said Friday in a statement, echoing rival Audi this week in predicting a difficult environment for the sector in 2019. BMW’s sales growth slowed to 1.8 per cent last year, the lowest in a decade.

Key Insights

• 2018 marked a turning point for automakers, as several factors ranging from new emissions tests to trade wars hurt sales. Both Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG and BMW issued profit warnings, while sales growth at Mercedes also tumbled to the lowest in a decade.
• The tough conditions have started to prompt large scale job cuts. Both Ford Motor Co. and Jaguar Land Rover Thursday announced they'd start shedding thousands of workers. Europe looks especially hard-hit, with fallout from Brexit adding to the pressure.
• Tougher CO2 limits are just around the corner, with carmakers in Europe at risk of missing new goals from 2020. Buyers for electric cars, which remain more expensive to make than combustion-engine vehicles, are slow to show much appetite. BMW sold 35,000 i3 electric cars last year, about 1.6 percent of total sales.