BMW 2015 Annual Report Download - page 25

25 COMBINED MANAGEMENT REPORT
Precious metals prices stabilised for a short period at the
beginning of the year, before continuing their long-term
downward trend for the remainder of the twelve-month
period. The drop in prices reflects overcapacities on
the supply side, combined with weak demand on world
markets.
There was no sign of a turnaround on the world’s steel
markets during the period under report. Here, too,
the general slide in raw materials prices was reflected
in
lower steel prices year-on-year.
Automobile markets
Worldwide registrations of passenger cars and light com-
mercial vehicles grew by 3.3 % to 82.4 million units.
The two largest automobile markets, the USA and China,
were once again the mainstays driving this outcome.
Registration figures in China, for instance, increased by
8.9 % to 20.5 million units. Although this number points
to a weaker performance than one year earlier, the
Chinese market nevertheless increased the gap between
itself and the US market, which grew by 5.7 % to 17.5 mil-
lion units.
Automobile markets in Europe picked up where they had
left off the previous year, growing by 9.2 % (14.2 million
units) during the period under report. Excluding registra-
tions in Germany, the European market fared slightly
better with a 10.3 % increase to 11.0 million units. The
German automobile market grew by 5.6 % to 3.2 million
units and therefore accounted for nearly a quarter of all
new registrations in Europe (22.6 %). France (1.9 million
units; + 6.8 %) and Italy (1.6 million units; + 15.5 %) both
saw robust growth, which also contributed to the re-
covery. Europe’s growth was also helped by a repeated
dynamic performance in Spain (1.0 million units;
+ 20.9 %). Registrations in the United Kingdom were
6.3 % higher at 2.6 million units
.
Japan’s automobile market contracted in 2015, with
new registrations falling and totalling only 4.9 million
units ( – 9.8 %).
Automobile markets in major emerging economies
continued to suffer from recession in 2015. The Russian
market shrank by more than one-third (1.5 million
units; – 36.0 %) and the Brazilian market by a good quar-
ter (2.5 million units; – 25.7 %).
Motorcycle markets
The world’s motorcycle markets in the 500 cc plus class
grew by 4.7 % in 2015. Motorcycle registrations in Europe
were up by 8.5 %, mainly due to a sharp recovery in
southern Europe. Italy recorded double-digit growth,
with registrations 11.3 % up on the previous year. Ger-
many’s motorcycle market reported a 4.5 % increase,
while France finished at a similar level to the previous
year (+ 0.3 %). The US market grew by 3.6 %.
Financial services markets
While the majority of industrialised countries witnessed
an improvement in economic fundamentals in 2015,
market conditions were highly unfavourable for some of
the world’s major emerging economies.
After a slow start to the year, the US economy and em-
ployment market returned to an upward trend as from
the second quarter. The rate of inflation remained ex-
tremely low throughout the year, initially prompting the
Fed to adopt a “wait-and-see” approach regarding an
Precious metals price trend
(Index: December 2010 = 100)
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
11 12 13 14 15
Source: Reuters.
Palladium
Gold
Platinum