Note from Jeff: This also happens to be article #50 posted on the site since rebuilding the site just a few months ago.
Dingolfing. Exactly 50 years ago, cars built by the Bavarian premium manufacturer began rolling off the assembly line at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing. Since 27 September 1973, the people who work at what is now the BMW Group's largest European plant have produced Sheer Driving Pleasure more than twelve million times. “This anniversary is naturally an opportunity to look back on this plant’s amazing success story – but it is also an excellent reason to look ahead to the future with optimism,” said Plant Director Christoph Schröder, at a ceremony attended by representatives from business and the political sector. “Because this plant will continue to be of tremendous importance to the BMW Group, to the region and to many thousands of people.”
12 million BMW cars in 50 years
The figures presented to guests by Plant Director Christoph Schröder and Stefan Schmid, Chairman of the Dingolfing Works Council, in the light-hearted speech they delivered together, are impressive. In purely mathematical terms, with 12 million vehicles produced over the past five decades, that means a BMW rolled off the Dingolfing assembly line every 60 seconds: from the very first Iberian Red BMW 520 on that Thursday back in 1973, right up to today.
Almost two thirds of the production volume comes from Dingolfing’s core model series, the BMW 5 Series: The eighth generation, which has been in production since early July, will be hitting showrooms in the coming days. The range of models produced has gradually expanded over the decades and, today, with vehicles from the BMW 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series and 8 Series, as well as the BMW iX and BMW M GmbH models, it has reached a dimension that sets the benchmark for the whole automotive industry.
However, Dingolfing’s carmakers not only excel in large-scale production, with the highest level of efficiency and precision, but also in craft-scale manufacturing. The 99 BMW 8 Series models designed by American artist Jeff Koons in 2022, the 50 recently-delivered highly exclusive BMW 3.0 CSL and the BMW i7 Protection, the world's first fully-electric security vehicle, all testify to this outstanding expertise. The body shop also meets the highest standards of quality and craftsmanship required for all Rolls-Royce models in Unterhollerau.
 50 years of BMW production at Dingolfing location | [50 years of BMW production at Dingolfing location] | 735 kB |
For the seventh consecutive year, Frieze and BMW continue their long-term partnership with the art initiative BMW Open Work. French artist Sara Sadik worked closely with BMW to present “LA POTION (EH)” - a video and gaming experience, using BMW’s My Modes and the new AirConsole technology of the BMW i5 as a playing device. Both works will premiere at KOKO inside the BMW Open Work Lounge during Frieze London, which runs October 11-15, 2023.
Munich/London. For the seventh consecutive year, Frieze and BMW continue their long-term partnership with the art initiative BMW Open Work. French artist Sara Sadik worked closely with BMW to present “LA POTION (EH)” - a video and gaming experience, using BMW’s My Modes and the new AirConsole technology of the BMW i5 as a playing device. Both works will premiere at KOKO inside the BMW Open Work Lounge during Frieze London, which runs October 11-15, 2023. In celebration of their collaboration, Frieze and BMW proudly announce London-based musician Loyle Carner as this year's Frieze Music performer.
BMW Open Work is a joint initiative between Frieze and BMW, bringing together art, innovation, technology and design in a pioneering multi-platform format. Curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini, BMW Open Work invites an artist to develop an ambitious project utilising BMW technology and design to pursue their practice in new directions. This year, the invited artist is Marseille-based Sara Sadik, whose practice lies halfway between fiction and documentary. Her work, be it video or performance, is inspired by video games, anime, science-fiction as well as French rap, and puts forward characters facing challenges and striving to achieve moral and physical transformation through initiatory stories.
The brand expert and enthusiast of high-performance vehicles will succeed Timo Resch on October 1st, 2023, who is leaving the company at his own request.
Munich . Sylvia Neubauer will become the new head of Customer, Brand and Sales for BMW M GmbH at the beginning of October 2023. Neubauer, who was previously responsible for the brand portfolio strategy as well as market research and competitive analysis for all brands of the BMW Group, will thus succeed Timo Resch, who has held the position since January 2022 and is now leaving the company at his own request.
"Timo Resch has made a significant contribution to the strengthening of our sales and marketing activities and thus to the success of BMW M GmbH with his excellent commitment in the past two years. We thank him for his excellent work and wish him every success for his future tasks," says Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH. In 2022, BMW M GmbH achieved record sales with more than 177,000 vehicles sold worldwide and is also on track to set a new record in the current fiscal year.
Sylvia Neubauer looks forward to her new tasks with enthusiasm: "I am delighted that I can now combine my passion for BMW M vehicles even more strongly with my profession and make a decisive contribution to mastering the challenges that lie ahead of us in these exciting times," says Sylvia Neubauer. The focus of the current and future development of the brand with the strongest letter in the world is particularly on the consistent continuation of its path towards e-mobility and the marketing of performance and high-performance models with electrified drive.
"With Sylvia Neubauer, we have an experienced sales and marketing expert by our side, who brings a solid background in brand repositioning BMW M, data analytics, and customer journey from her previous positions," explains Franciscus van Meel. "We couldn't imagine a better choice to advance the transformation process of BMW M GmbH and strengthen the worldwide fan community of our brand."
Our definition of “the new” takes an unusual course for the BMW Vision Neue Klasse, as the international campaign places the brand promise “Freude forever.” at the heart of its communications.
Munich. The world premiere of the BMW Vision Neue Klasse marks a new beginning for the BMW brand, one characterised by a completely fresh way of thinking and approach. THE NEUE NEW is the title of the multi-channel campaign accompanying the Bavarian premium carmaker’s ongoing process of transformation. The campaign’s storytelling captures the central areas of action contained within this transformation and brings an unusual angle to the idea of “the new”.
The campaign THE NEUE NEW – developed and implemented by the agency THE GAME created specially for the BMW Group and the BMW brand – explains in an authentic and accessible way what underpins the “NEU” of the forthcoming NEUE KLASSE. The use of the German word for “new” references the name of this new-generation model series and has an effective and memorable impact in non-German-speaking markets around the world as well as at home. At the same time, the campaign shines the spotlight on the brand promise “Freude forever.” and opens a window to BMW as a future-facing brand focused on meeting peoples’ needs.
“THE NEUE NEW represents our journey into a completely new era of mobility, in which we are putting people front and centre. And its visual implementation is likewise very authentic, accessible and human,” says Jens Thiemer, Senior Vice President Customer and BMW Brand. “The campaign provides an initial example of how we are also employing innovative communication approaches to drive forward the transformation process BMW is currently navigating.”
THE NEUE NEW tells the story of the transformation alongside the key future-focused fields the BMW Group has set itself: the ideal of a circular economy as a progressive mindset geared towards preserving resources; digitalisation focused on identifying and meeting peoples’ needs; and a commitment to electrification with the aim of making the driving pleasure for which the brand is renowned something future generations can also experience.
As a central hub in which these three elements converge, the BMW Vision Neue Klasse embodies a fresh departure fuelled by optimism for the future. Recalling the “mk1” Neue Klasse, which revolutionised the brand’s product range in the 1960s, the storytelling approach is deliberately playing on the German “Neue” in non-German-speaking markets as well as at home and, in so doing, redefining the idea of “the new” itself.
The BMW Vision Neue Klasse shows us here and now how Sheer Driving Pleasure will be interpreted in the years ahead. At its heart is the design language of “intelligent reduction to the essentials”. Meanwhile, the latest generation of BMW iDrive delivers a digital, immersive user experience in which the driver takes centre stage. Every aspect of the development process took sustainability and efficiency as the guiding themes.
+++ Higher sales target and automotive EBIT margin for 2023
+++ Group EBT margin comes in at 12.6% for HY1
+++ Automotive EBIT margin at 10.6% after six months
+++ Free cash flow of € 3.1 billion in Automotive Segment in YTD June
+++ Deliveries of fully-electric BMW vehicles up 133%
+++ Zipse: “Economic success during the transformation”
- Higher sales target and automotive EBIT margin for 2023
- Group EBT margin comes in at 12.6% for HY1
- Automotive EBIT margin at 10.6% after six months
- Free cash flow of € 3.1 billion in Automotive Segment in YTD June
- Deliveries of fully-electric BMW vehicles up 133%
- Zipse: “Economic success during the transformation”
Munich. The BMW Group delivered a strong financial and operating performance in a difficult environment in the first half of 2023. In the first six months, the premium automotive manufacturer achieved a Group EBT margin of 12.6% and an EBIT margin of 10.6% in the Automotive Segment. In the second quarter, the Group EBT margin came in at 11.3% (Q2 2022: 11.3%). In the Automotive Segment, the EBIT margin increased to 9.2% (Q2 2022: 8.2%).
As previously reported in an ad hoc announcement, the company is now planning for solid growth in deliveries for the full year 2023 (previously slight growth). Growth drivers should be highly priced models as well as fully electric vehicles. BEV models are set to account for 15% of total vehicle sales. The EBIT margin in the Automotive Segment is now projected to be within the range of 9-10.5% (previously 8-10%).
“Strong products generate strong demand – across all drive technologies. The second quarter underlined how the broad range of technologies we offer is winning over customers: Sales of vehicles with highly efficient combustion engines provide us with a solid foundation – the strong growth comes from the significant increase in demand for our fully-electric vehicles,” said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, on Thursday. “We are combining both: systematic transformation and economic success. At the same time, we are aligning the company, with focus and determination, for the future – while maintaining our high level of profitability.”
With its popular premium vehicles, the BMW Group benefited in the first half of the year from the positive development in many automotive markets. The company delivered a total of 1,214,864 vehicles to customers (2022: 1,160,094 units; +4.7%). The volume of electrified models sold during this period increased significantly to 245,468 units (2022: 184,468 units; +33.1%), while deliveries of fully-electric vehicles doubled to 152,936 units (2022: 75,890 units; +101.5%). BEVs therefore accounted for 12.6% of sales in the first half-year (2022: 6.5%; +93.8%) and 14.1% in the second quarter.
With the launch of the new i5* from October this year, the BMW Group will have at least one fully-electric variant on the roads across its main model ranges and all three premium brands. By 2024, at least one in five of the company’s new vehicles should be a BEV; by 2025, one in four.
BMW brand once again takes top spot in global premium segment
With a total of 1,071,326 vehicles delivered to customers in the first six months, the BMW Group reported solid year-on-year sales growth of +5.4% – and also increased its second-quarter deliveries significantly. (HY1 2022: 1,016,228 units; Q2 2023: 553,369 units; Q2 2022: 496,432 units; +11.5%). Thanks to its strong brand and young and attractive product line-up, BMW once again topped the global premium segment in the first half-year.
The BMW brand’s sales growth was, to a large extent, thanks to its fully-electric vehicles. With a total of 133,927 electric vehicles delivered to customers, it once again more than doubled BEV sales from the same period of last year (+133.1%). The most in-demand BEV models were the BMW i4*, BMW iX3*, BMW iX* and the fully-electric 3 Series sedan: the BMW i3*. The newly introduced BMW iX1* achieved a steep demand curve within just a few months on the market.
The high-end models of the 7 series, the updated BMW X7, and the BMW X5 and X6 SUVs also drove sales growth.
The company expects further momentum in the second half of the year from the market launch of the new BMW 5 Series and the fully-electric BMW i5, in particular, from October 2023. For the first time and as the first automotive manufacturer in Germany, the BMW Group is offering a system for partially automated driving at speeds up to 130 km/h that has been approved for German motorways in its new BMW 5 Series. This Highway Assistant allows the driver to take their hands off the steering wheel while driving.
MINI posts significant second-quarter sales growth
The MINI brand delivered 71,816 vehicles to customers in the second quarter of 2023 – an increase of +10.2%, compared to the previous year (HY1 2023: 140,357 units; (HY1 2022: 140,675 units; -0.2%). During the same period, the brand reported sales growth of +8.8% for its fully-electric vehicles. Since last year, the brand's most popular model has been the fully-electric MINI Cooper SE*. The MINI product line-up now also includes the first fully-electric MINI Cooper SE Convertible.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars handed over 3,181 vehicles to customers (-0.3%) in the first half of 2023. During this period, production of both its Wraith and Dawn models was phased out, and sales remained on a par with the previous year. Initial deliveries of the highly sought-after fully-electric coupé, Rolls-Royce Spectre, will get underway in the fourth quarter of 2023.
BMW Group sales increase in three main world regions
In the three key regions of the world, Europe, the Americas and Asia, BMW Group sales were up slightly after the first six months. Compared to the weaker prior-year quarter, the premium brands made significant second-quarter gains in some cases. The Americas region and the US reported double-digit growth rates (HY1 2023: Americas: 225,645 units/+10.2%, USA: 186,122 units/+12.5%; Q2 2023: Americas: 117,790 units/+11.5%; USA: 95,948 units/+13.6%).
In Europe, sales increased slightly to 449,264 vehicles in the first six months (HY1 2022: 434,235 units/+3.5%). The second quarter ended with solid gains, at 232,994 units (Q2 2022: 213,842 units/+9.0%).
In Asia, the BMW Group recorded slight sales growth in the first half-year, delivering a total of 513,169 premium vehicles to customers (HY1 2022: 495,559 units/+3.6%). In China, sales were also slightly higher, at 393,261 units (HY1 2022: 379,524 units/+3.6%), with the aftereffects of the coronavirus pandemic still being felt in the first quarter. In the second quarter, deliveries to customers in China rose significantly to 198,161 vehicles (Q2 2022: 170,571 units/+16.2%). The Asia region also posted significant sales growth to reach 261,242 units (Q2 2022: 230,494 units/+13.3%).
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-Special Thanks-
Special thanks to Identifont for assistance re-acquiring the font used in the logo, Venus Rising.
