BMW 2007 Annual Report Download - page 20

18 Group Management Report
10 Group Management Report
10 A Review of the Financial Year
13 General Economic Environment
17 Review of Operations
41 BMW Stock and Bonds
44 Disclosures relating to Takeover
Regulations and Explanatory Report
47 Financial Analysis
47 – Internal Management System
49 – Earnings Performance
51 – Financial Position
52 – Net Assets Position
55 – Subsequent Events Report
55 – Value Added Statement
57 – Key Performance Figures
58 – Comments on BMW AG
62 Risk Management
68 Outlook
BMW remains the most successful premium
car brand in the world
In total, 1,276,793 BMW brand cars were sold in
2007, 7.7 % more than in the previous year, thereby
creating a new retail sales volume record. No other
premium automobile brand was selected by so many
customers in 2007.
165,803 units of the BMW 1 Series (+ 9.1 %)
were sold. This increase was driven in particular by
the introduction of the three-door version in May
2007. Additional impetus came from the new BMW 1
Series Coupé towards the end of the year. The
BMW 1 Series Convertible available from spring 2008
will further add to the appeal of this model series.
The BMW 3 Series with its Sedan, Touring,
Coupé and Convertible versions was once again the
best-selling BMW model series (43.5 %) and was
also well ahead of its nearest competitors. Altogether,
555,219 units of this model series were sold, 9.2 %
more than the previous year’s figure. This includes
310,194 units of the BMW 3 Series Sedan (– 7.7 %)
and 102,399 of the BMW 3 Series Touring model
(– 2.9 %). Sales of the BMW 3 Series Coupé con-
tinued to make good progress in 2007, its first year
of full availability. 89,572 units of the BMW 3 Series
Coupé were handed over to customers, representing
a 117.5 % increase over the previous year. The BMW 3
Series Convertible, available on the markets since
March 2007, also enjoyed a similarly good perform-
ance with sales up by 109.9 % to 52,970 units.
The revised BMW 5 Series has been available
since the end of March 2007. In total, 230,845 units
were sold in 2007, slightly fewer (– 0.6 %) than the
pre vious year’s high level. Sales of the BMW 5 Series
Sedan, at 181,534 units, were down 0.6 % on the
previous year and the figure for the BMW 5 Series
Touring was down by 0.7 % to 49,311 units.
Due to the fact that the revised BMW 6 Series
did not become available until September 2007,
the sales volume fell to 19,626 units (– 10.6 %) for
model life-cycle reasons. This figure comprised
9,967 BMW 6 Series Coupés (– 16.5 %) and 9,659
BMW 6 Series Convertibles (– 3.5 %).
Now nearing the end of its product life-cycle,
the sales performance of the BMW 7 Series was in
line with expectations. In total, 44,421 units (– 11.6 %)
of the BMW 7 Series were handed over to customers
in 2007.
In its fourth year since market launch, sales of
the BMW X3 Sports Activity Vehicle remained at a
high level of 111,879 units (– 1.9 %).
The new BMW X5, on the North American mar-
kets since November 2006, has also been available
in Europe and Asia since March 2007. Sales of
the BMW X5 grew sharply in 2007 with a total of
120,617 units (+ 60.1 %) handed over to customers.
Now in its sixth year since market introduction,
the BMW Z4 could not match the sales volume figure
achieved in 2006. 28,383 units of the BMW Z4 were
sold, down 8.4 % against the previous year.
Proportion of diesel-powered cars continues
to rise
The BMW brand was the most successful supplier of
diesel vehicles in the premium segment in 2007. In
many European countries, the proportion of diesel-
powered cars is significantly higher than the equiva-
lent petrol-powered versions. The highest proportion
(93 %) of BMW brand diesel vehicles was recorded
in Portugal. Similarly high proportions were also re-
corded in France and Italy (both 89 %) and Belgium
(including Luxembourg), where the proportion was
88 %. In Germany, the proportion of diesel-powered
BMW brand cars rose by four percentage points in
2007 to 63 %.
Diesel-powered BMW brand cars will also be
sold in the USA in future. This was confirmed by the
BMW Group during the North American International
Deliveries of BMW diesel automobiles
in 1,000 units and as a percentage of total volume
550
500
450
400
350
300
250
03
273.7
29
units
as a percentage of
total volume
04
352.5
34
05
438.3
39
06
472.7
40
07
525.9
41
BMW brand cars in 2007 – analysis by series
as a percentage of total BMW brand sales volume
1 Series
3 Series
5 Series
6 Series
7 Series
X3
X5
Z4
43.5
13.0
9.4
3.5
1.5
2.2
8.8
18.1