At BMW, a sports car icon retired on Friday. Finally, the group donated the gullwing special colors, individual decorative strips and a special numbering for the collector's value.
- BMW produced the i8 at the Leipzig plant.
- After around six years it is over now.
- Auto expert Dudenhöffer: i8 was never a vehicle to be successful in the market.
Update from August 10th, 11.42 a.m.: The Munich carmaker BMW is sending a sports car icon into retirement. At the end of June, the last 18 BMW i8s were running in the BMW plant in Leipzig from the evening. The series was only launched in 2014. Now it's finally over. The vehicles were handed over to the owners on Friday (August 7th) in the BMW World in Munich, a spokeswoman told Merkur.de *.
BMW had granted the last customer of its iconic e-runabout a few extras. This included special paintwork in “Austin yellow, British Racing Green” or “Le Mans blue” or individual trim strips and panels. In addition, the vehicles have all been numbered and thus have "collector potential", said the group in a press release.
The i8 is the “world's most successful sports car with electric drive in the company's history”. The i8 with the plug-in hybrid has secured a place in the “Hall of Fame” of automotive history, it was said.
The BMW i8 is still unique of its kind. #FanaticarMagazin #Abschied #BMW # BMWi8 # BMWi8roadster # SettingBMWi8 https://t.co/4RzoYqPYo6 pic.twitter.com/vZMbrk27d6
- Fanaticar (@FanaticarMag) August 10, 2020In fact, the i8 and its little brother i3 have been considered one of the most innovative vehicle concepts for many years. The innovative vehicle concept in particular caused a sensation worldwide. Instead of steel or aluminum, BMW opted for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for the models. That should save weight and increase the range. However, the highly traded material turned out to be stubborn and very expensive in production.
BMW had high hopes for the i8. At the start in June 2014, the group promised "a revolution in the sports car segment". However, the sales figures remained clear. Worldwide, BMW had sold around 20,000 units of the sporty i8 Coupé and the i8 Roadster, which was launched later, over the entire life cycle.
BMW i8: technology carrier by engineers for engineers
In the industry, the car is therefore more of a technology carrier. The i8 was significantly less suitable for everyday use than "the Porsche 911 series, for example," said Prof. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the Center Automotive Research in Duisburg to Merkur.de *. In addition, the combination of a "small 3-cylinder gasoline engine and an electric motor with a small battery" creates a concept that is more dynamic on short journeys. As a result, the i8 was "more of a technology concept by engineers for engineers than a vehicle to be successful in the market," says the auto expert.
New Corona case at BMW: After loss report - now employees also have to be quarantined
Update from August 7th, 9:52 a.m.: Corona * at BMW:A BMW employee at the Leipzig plant immediately informed his employer of the test result on Wednesday evening, a spokesman told Merkur.de * on. Therefore, the affected employee was immediately quarantined. The colleagues with whom the employee was in contact were also identified on Wednesday evening and were sent "prophylactically" to the home office. They would now also be "tested for Corona as a precaution".
BMW: No production interruption in Leipzig
The total of around 20 BMW employees affected worked “all in administration”. The production was "in no way" affected by the Corona case, it said. Similar to most other companies, BMW also has a fixed procedure for possible corona cases. In addition to the immediate determination of possible contact persons of corona infected people, it also includes the blocking of the employee ID.
BMW builds the 1, 2 and i3 series in Leipzig. Around 1,000 vehicles roll off the assembly line every day. The Leipziger Volkszeitung had first reported on the case.
BMW rushes into the red: loss worse than feared - Audi hit hard too
Update from August 6, 2020, 12:22 p.m.: Munich - The corona pandemic is also making the German premium manufacturers Audi , BMW and Mercedes-Benz difficult. A look at the figures for the first half of the year shows that. After that, sales of all three German upper-class manufacturers slumped by 22 to 23 percent each from January to June.
The decline in sales was also bitter. While Mercedes-Benz including Vans got away with a minus of almost 15 percent in the first half of the year, the revenues of the BMW Group with its brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce slumped by a good 21 percent. The biggest slump was here at Audi. From January to June the sales of the VW subsidiary collapsed by almost 29 percent.
BMW: Bayern lagged behind in terms of operating profit in the first half of the year
In terms of the operating result in the first half of the year, however, BMW is at the bottom. It is true that group-wide in the first half of the year it achieved an operating profit of 709 million euros. But in the core segment of automobiles, the Munich-based carmaker posted a loss of 1.325 million euros as of June 30th. That is almost as much as Audi (minus 750 million euros) and Mercedes-Benz (minus 615 million) lost together in the first half of the year.
BMW rushes into the red: loss worse than feared - drastic slump in the premium segment
Update from August 5, 2020, 11.15 a.m.: The Bavarian car manufacturer BMW expects a drastic drop in sales in the luxury class segment for the current year. "Worldwide we expect a decline in sales of almost 20 percent," said BMW CFO Nicolas Peter on Wednesday in a conference call with journalists.
For itself, the BMW Group is assuming “sales well below last year” in the current year. In BMW terminology, this means a minus of over ten percent. In the previous year, the Group had delivered a total of 2.538 million BMW , MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles worldwide , thus setting another sales record.
BMW sees the first bright spots in July
Update of August 5, 2020 10:17: The BMW Group is looking after a loss in the second quarter more confident in the second half. Group-wide sales in July were “well above the previous year”, said BMW boss Oliver Zipse in a conference call with journalists on Wednesday morning.
In Germany, for example, the reduction in VAT has a positive effect . The group also saw strong demand in its home market for BMW and MINI brand electric cars. In the case of electric vehicles, sales figures were "more than 50 percent above the previous year," said Zipse. In China, too, the trend is pointing upwards. However, the 3-series model change in China in July 2019 also played a role, said Zipse.
BMW rushes into the red - loss worse than feared
Update from August 5, 2020, 7.59 a.m.: From April to June, BMW sales dropped by 22.3 percent to 19.97 billion euros. Operationally showed the groupa loss of 666 million euros after a profit of 2.2 billion euros in the previous year. This put BMW yetbelow the analyst forecasts. The experts had only expected an average loss of 410 million euros.
In the USA and Europe in particular , the group recently had to cope with significant declines in sales due to the corona pandemic. There sales collapsed by a good third in the second quarter. In China , however, business has since picked up again.
BMW boss Oliver Zipse cautiously optimistic for the second half of the year
For the second half of the year, however , BMW expects a slight improvement. "We are looking ahead to the second half of the year with cautious optimism," said BMW boss Oliver Zipse according to the press release.
Similar to many other car manufacturers, the production lines at BMW were temporarily shut down in the spring due to the corona pandemic. Most of the car dealerships also had to close. The corona crisis hits the entire industry with great force. Volkswagen had to cope with an operational loss of 2.4 billion euros in the second quarter. At Daimler, the minus amounted to 1.7 billion euros.
Despite a significant market decline following the corona pandemic we were able to achieve a positive profit before tax of € 498 million in the first half year.
Read more here: https://t.co/DYDzuuY6AE#BMWGroup pic.twitter.com/gd7t29TWGN
Given the developments, all manufacturers are now feverishly looking for ways to reduce their costs. BMW wants to cut 6,000 jobs. In addition, investments in property, plant and equipment are to be reduced by around a third to less than four billion euros. However, the group intends to maintain its investments in research and development almost unchanged.
BMW before the quarterly figures: Serious situation - expert believes in mega-loss
First report August 4, 4.36 p.m.: The economic consequences of the corona pandemic have also hit the Munich car maker BMW hard. The group will publish its interim results for the second quarter on Wednesday. Analysts expect that the group has rushed deep into the red.
The Munich car manufacturer BMW * is actually spoiled for success. In the past few years, the group has reliably increased sales, revenue and earnings, one record year after the other.
But in the Corona year 2020 everything is different. Instead of new extra shifts and employment records, BMW produces in a single shift and wants to cut a total of 6,000 jobs. It would be the first job cuts in over a decade.
But the order situation is no longer good at the moment. In the first half of the year, sales of the group brands BMW , MINI * and Rolls-Royce * dropped by 23 percent to 963,000 worldwide. While China has recently recovered to a certain extent, the USA and Europe saw a slump in sales of around 29 percent (USA) and 32 percent respectively.
BMW: Analysts expect red numbers for the second quarter
Tomorrow, Wednesday, should show how serious the situation is. Then the company publishes the figures for the second quarter and the interim results are likely to be rather bitter.
Similar to the vast majority of other manufacturers, BMW will have "written in the red" in the second quarter, said Frank Schwope, auto analyst at NordLB in Hanover, opposite Merkur.de. In operational terms, BMW is likely to have made “500 million to one billion euros” loss in the second quarter, estimates Jürgen Pieper from the Metzler bank .
BMW and other car manufacturers are struggling with the consequences of the corona pandemic
Now BMW not an isolated case. Competitors are also struggling with the corona pandemic. Because, as with BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler had factories shut down and car dealerships had to close, there were losses. Daimler sunk 1.7 billion euros operationally in the second quarter, at Volkswagen - after all the largest car manufacturer in the world - operationally even 2.4 billion euros ran up from April to June.
The situation is difficult enough even without Corona. After all, the entire industry is in the middle of the transformation from the classic combustion engine to e-mobility and autonomous driving. The conversion devours resources and costs billions, which should actually come from ongoing business. In addition, there are new, financially strong competitors such as Google in autonomous driving or the electric car manufacturer Tesla , which are causing serious problems for the established manufacturers.
By 2030, we will have delivered more than 7 million #electrified vehicles to our customers. Together with other measures, this will reduce the # CO2 emissions in the use phase of our vehicles by 40%. #sustainability #BMWGroup pic.twitter.com/kb7Hq11WVo
- BMW Group (@BMWGroup) July 30, 2020So it's no wonder that the once vigorous industry currently prefers to keep the ball flat. “The prognoses for 2020”, warned about BMW boss Oliver Zipse * at the virtual general meeting in May shareholders and analysts, “are gloomy”. * Merkur.de is an offer from the Ippen Digital Network.