Investments in cleaner vehicles hit BMW profits
Reuters / Clean Energy Wire
German luxury car maker BMW’s earnings in the second quarter of 2019 fell by a fifth to 2.2 billion euros (2018: 2,7 billion euros), hit by exchange rate moves and investments in manufacturing electric and hybrid cars to help meet stricter emissions limits, reports news agency Reuters. BMW said it had faced steep research and development expenses, investments in property, plant and equipment, and the growing proportion of electric vehicles had also contributed to higher production costs. The company said it will continue to invest “substantial amounts in new technologies and the mobility of the future” in 2019. “Costs are also being driven up in other areas, including the significantly higher cost of complying with stricter carbon emission legislation,” said BMW.
On the way to a decarbonised transport system, carmakers are having to make huge investments into cleaner technologies, in part driven by stricter EU emissions limits. German carmakers – tarnished by the scandal over the manipulation of emission tests by Europe’s largest car producer VW – were slow to join the race to a cleaner transport future, but have all announced ambitious plans to increase the share of e-cars in their product portfolio over the next years. BMW recently announced it would accelerate the rollout of electric cars.
