BMW: Forecast for 2026 lowered again

Munich car company BMW lowers forecast for 2026 again

BMW expects losses in the automotive segment for the current financial year. This also has to do with the restructuring in management.

The car company BMW expects less profit in the current financial year than last expected. The company announced that the margin before interest and taxes (EBIT margin) in the automotive segment should now be between minus 0.5 and plus 0.5 percent. Previously, BMW had assumed a margin of one to three percent. The EBIT margin represents a company's operating profit in relation to sales.

The reason for the new forecast is the board's decision to "expand and intensify portfolio and structural measures," explained BMW. In this way, the “announced streamlining of management functions should be accelerated.” BMW is presenting its third quarter report this Wednesday. The company recently announced, among other things, that it would restructure parts of its middle to upper management. There was also a popular severance pay program for which provisions were made.

BMW had already issued a profit warning in June and revised its forecast downwards. At the beginning of the year, the group had assumed an EBIT margin of four to six percent. The shares, which had recently been weak, fell further after the new announcement.

Germany's automobile manufacturers have been in crisis for a long time, due, among other things, to strong competition from China, high US tariffs and lower profit margins for electric cars. BMW was the last major company to announce 8,000 job cuts in July. Unlike Volkswagen, for example, it is not about jobs in production, but primarily in development and administration (more on that here).

The EU Parliament will soon decide how much the ban on combustion engines will be softened. It could depend on votes from the right. Read here why representatives of the car lobby in Brussels are no longer afraid to make contact.

esw/dpa