BMW to shorten its product lineup soon

KUALA LUMPUR: According to a recent report, BMW is planning to chop off the number of cars in its lineup, seems like the exploring days are over for the German automaker. The reason we feel is an attempt to put a halt on the bleeding profits. As last year the company’s earnings fell by 22 percent and the return on investment by 2 percent, i.e., from 9.2 percent to 7.2 percent.

BMW warned a further reduction of between 4.5 to 6.5 percent, which according to the reports is not just because of the escalating trade war between China and the United States, but also due to the investments that include new plants in Mexico and Hungary, maintenance of existing factories to built EVs, and expansion of production capacity in the United States and China.

These facts have sent alarm bells across the BMW Group and all this before considering that the brand’s wide lineup’s emission figures that are required to be lowered by 25 percent by 2021, or else it would incur punitive penalties. Therefore the company is now expected to roll out more and more full EVs and plug-in hybrids and find a way to settle the losses caused by the decline in the interest in diesel models.

BMW’s chief financial officer Nicolas Peter plans to save around €13 billion, i.e., RM 60 billion until 2022. This he intends to do by -
Using simulations and not prototypes to speed up the R&D process
Prepare the company for the new EV, the iNEXT
Cutting short the number of powerplants and equipment options

The models Peter plans to cut include are - the 1 Series three-door, standard-wheelbase 7 Series, 3 Series Gran Turismo, 6 Series Grand Turismo, and 2 Series Gran Tourer. These aren’t big surprises, but the cut also tends to include recently convertible, introduced cars that marked the return of BMW’s driver-oriented focus, like the 8 Series Coupe and Z4.

While these cars will bid-adieu to the brand, coming into the picture shortly are BMW offerings like the bespoke performance SUV X8, i3 replacement, and a lighter i8 replacement.