BMW 2008 Annual Report Download - page 24

25 Group Management Report
The first “two-working-day engine” was supplied by the
BMW Steyr plant to the BMW car plant in Dingolfing. The
continuous improvement of production and logistics
processes has now made it possible to reduce the through-
put time from the installation of the first engine compo-
nent to the commencement of assembly at BMW car
plants in Germany to only two days. With this remarkable
throughput time, the BMW Group is setting new
stand-
ards for production efficiency in the automotive industry.
In December, the expansion of the BMW development
centre for diesel engines in Steyr was commissioned with
a total investment volume of euro  million. The focus is
on increasing capacities in the area of vehicle measurement
technology and function testing. Series production of the
new six- cylinder diesel engine began at the BMW plant
in Steyr in . This diesel engine is a component in the
BMW Group’s Efficient Dynamics package.
Engines for both the BMW and the MINI brands are pro-
duced at the Hams Hall plant in the United Kingdom. In to-
tal, , engines were manufactured at the plant in .
, of these were produced for BMW brand cars and
, for MINI brand cars. More than . million engines
have been built at Hams Hall since the plant was commis-
sioned in January .
Activities at the Rolls-Royce Goodwood plant in  were
primarily geared towards preparations for the new model
announced for . The BMW Group is investing a total of
euro  million in the expansion of the plant. The work in-
cludes the installation of a second assembly line as well as
the extension of the paint, wood and leather workshops.
Motorcycle sales volume at previous year’s level
The BMW Group sold a total of , BMW motorcycles
in  and therefore almost achieved the same sales
volume level as in the previous year – . , despite the
overall contraction of the market. The positive perform-
ance by comparison with the competition was helped in
particular by the availability of the R 1200 GS (including
the Adventure version), F 650 GS and F 800 GS enduro
models from spring  onwards.
Divergent sales volume performance on the
markets
In total, , BMW motorcycles were sold in Europe in
, only marginally – .  fewer than one year earlier.
Within the region, however, the individual markets
con-
tinued to perform divergently. The BMW Group
set itself
apart from these negative market developments in many
countries and increased market shares. This success was
largely due to the ongoing new model initiative. In Ger-
many, which is the largest single market for BMW motor-
cycles, the sales volume dropped sharply to , units,
a decrease of .  against the previous year. There was
also a moderate fall in the number of motorcycles sold in
Spain, with the sales volume slipping by .  to , units.
Sales of BMW motorcycles in other European countries
were well up on the previous year, in some cases quite con-
siderably. The , motorcycles handed over to customers
in France corresponded to a .  sales volume increase.
More motorcycles were also sold in the United Kingdom
(, units / + .  ) and Italy (, units / + .  ) than in .
In the USA, the BMW Group recorded a sales volume of
, units, .  down on the previous year’s performance.
This was mainly due to the fact that the F 650 GS and the
F 800 GS did not become available on the US market until
the second half of the year (and hence later than in Europe).
The Motorcycles segment’s sales in Japan followed the
general market trend. The BMW Group sold , motorcy-
cles on this market in , an .  drop on a year-on-year
BMW motorcycles delivered
in , units
110
105
100
95
90
85
80
04 05 06 07 08
*
92.3 97.5 100.1 102.5 101.7
* excluding Husqvarna Motorcycles (, motorcycles)