According to slides released on BMW’s website Tuesday, the automaker anticipates its full-year margin to be in the lower half of its 6-7% objective and its fourth-quarter pre-tax earnings to be far lower than those of the previous year.
The announcement follows an investor call (not open to the public during a closed period) ahead of the company’s upcoming annual earnings report, set to be released on March 14. On the slides, the automaker attributed the decline to inflation and higher fixed costs from unwinding inventory.
This outlook comes after a difficult third quarter, which saw a 61% drop in profit, missing analyst expectations. The decline was driven by weaker sales in China and ongoing brake issues affecting over 1.5 million vehicles. The automaker expects the brake issue to be resolved soon, with no impact on its 2025 earnings.
BMW’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, also announced at a conference in Berlin that the company will propose a reduction in EU tariffs on U.S. car imports from 10% to 2.5%, which aligns with the current U.S. import tariff rate.
However, last year, the automaker reported it sold a total of 117,506, an 8.9% increase from 2023. For the full year, BMW’s sales increased by 2.5%, which marked the second consecutive year that it achieved a new sales record in the U.S.
