BMW sees steady 2024 automotive margin as R&D, capex peak

BMW sees its 2024 automotive margin in line with last year as the German premium carmaker expects research and development (R&D) costs and capital expenditures to peak this year, it said in the annual report on Thursday. "We are investing in the future of our company like never before," finance chief Walter Mertl said. BMW forecast fully-electric vehicle deliveries to rise significantly in 2024, while they jumped already by 74 per cent last year, thus reaching 15 per cent of sales.

The firm expects overall deliveries of key brands BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce to be slightly higher than the previous year. The company sees the earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin in its core automotive division to be in a range of 8-10 per cent this year, versus the 9.8 per cent reported in 2023. This comes after the Munich-based group's 2023 margins fell short of expectations on higher costs and it had to slash dividends as consolidation of its Chinese joint venture weighed on the bottom line.

Normalization of demand for used cars will also weigh on earnings as it expects lower remarketing lease returns, the group added.