Yesterday, carmakers published their sales totals for the US market. Most manufacturers published record numbers, with slight increases overall for the US market. In the luxury segment, BMW managed to beat its main rival, Mercedes-Benz, for the first time since 2015. The hard efforts put in by everyone at BMW of North America finally paid off – the Bavarians announced an overall increase for 2019 of 4.4 percent in sales volume.
Continue Reading Below
After a 4-year hiatus, BMW is finally reclaiming the number one spot in the luxury segment in the US. The Munich-based car maker announced it sold 324,826 cars in 2019, beating Mercedes-Benz by 8,732 units. That’s a very narrow gap, mind you, and it comes after Mercedes posted a drop in sales over the last month of 2019. The Stuttgart-based car maker sold almost exactly the same amount of cars in 2019 as it did in 2018, adding up to a total of 316,094 units.
Third place was not taken by Audi but by Lexus but at a rather long distance behind the two German rivals. The Japanese brand saw a drop in demand over the course of 2019 of 0.1 percent. In total they sold 298,114 units last year while December sales dropped by 0.6 percent to 35,325 units.
Fourth place went to Audi with a total of 224,111 units sold in 2019, an increase of 0.4 percent on a year-to-date basis. Over the month of December, Audi recorded the highest gains in the luxury segment, sales growing by 14 percent to 25,850 units.
Cullinan accounts for nearly half of all Rolls-Royce sales so far in 2019
The numbers also show the slow but, by now, imminent demise of the sedan. SUV and crossover sales are going through the roof, with the X3, X5 and X7 posting strong increases in sales (alongside their rivals) while traditional sedans which used to be best-sellers, are constantly dropping.
This is actually what helped BMW win this unofficial title last year as it has one of the youngest portfolios in the market right now, especially in the SUV and crossover segments.
For decades, BMW has been building gigantic hidden reserves outside off the balance sheet (probably for tax reasons [corporate tax and inheritance tax Quandt / Klatten]). BMW’s accounting seems to be very conservative. In Germany and Munich, real estate prices have risen sharply for years. “BMW is one of the largest landowners in the north of Munich.” In the balance, however, all land and real estate of BMW are still at the decades-old production costs. Price appreciation in real estate is an important factor. Munich is clearly one of the most expensive areas in Germany BMW operates 30 production and assembly plants in 14 countries. The book value does not contain the huge hidden reserves. For example, 50% of the share in the highly profitable Chinese BBA alone is worth over 7.2 billion. Most people don’t know these features of german accounting that partly remains even after adoption of IFRS. Brand value – BMW improved from 13th to 11th place with $ 40.4 billion plus “Mini” plus “Rolls-Royce”. Already the book values are calculated by balancing experts 2019 to over 94 euros (2021: 101 euros). It was and is always only a matter of time for the book values to prevail. And they are fully disjunkt to the hidden reserves. Over the last years BMW has been the most profitable caremarker worldwide. X7 is only the beginning. Wait for the new 2020/2021-Technologies BMW has secretlly developed.
(1) BMW will provide 13 Top BEV in 2023 (press release 2019)
(2) BMW are already biggest German seller of electric with their multiple PHEV, with 20% market share (I.e., more than their ICE share)
(3) BMW is selling the most advanced, efficient and exhaust-optimized ICE in Germany (Gas and Diesel) available in classes of engine power (136 up to 625 hp)
(4) Some BMW designs are already prepared for H2 fuel cells
(1) – (4) can be manufactured on the same production lines just in time according to customer requirements. This is a huge USP.
And BMW is building up significant additional production facilities to over 3 Million cars per year.
Catching up potential for BMWs market capitalization on the stock market? New All-Time Highs?
I love reading things like this …where someone has done their homework…unlike people just typing how a grille is going to kill BMW