Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BAMXF) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the second part of our group quarterly call. We will now continue in German. So we took a short break, and now we are very happy to answer your questions. As always, we will give you some technical advice, and then we start with the first question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now start with the Q and A session. If you would like to ask a question, then please raise your hand. It can be found on your screen. If you are connected by phone, then please press the star button and nine. And then you can ask questions one by one. As soon as your name has been announced, it's up to you to ask your question.

0:48 In order to withdraw the question, then please lower your hand in the Zoom app. And also, if you're connected by phone, press the star button and now in. Now the first question. Here's our first question. It comes from Christina Ammann from Thomson Reuters. Switch on your mic now. Good morning. Thank you very much. Yes, good morning to you. Mr. Tsipse, first of all, I would like to thank you for taking your time, and I wish you all the best for your time after BMW.

1:38 Today, I'm interested in tariffs. Trump announced to have 25% for imports of cars. Are you optimistic that this will not be implemented? And if yes, why? Second question, the Near East, two things. You pointed out that it has an effect on sales. Can you put a figure to it? And then the second aspect, what does the war in Iran mean for spare parts deliveries? Is there a risk? Okay. Thank you very much, Mrs. Aman, First Minister Sipsa and then Bayerische Motoren. Olga, you have the floor. Good morning, Mrs. Aman. Thank you very much for being here today, as also in the past years.

2:26 Paris, you know how this has to be read. It's not yet an executive order. For now, it's just a threat. And it doesn't come unexpectedly because, you know, the Turnberry wheel from last summer, so it was agreed to say we reduce the import duties from 27.5% to 15%. And in return, the European Union will reduce the tariffs from 10% to 0%. Now the American side implemented this for the past eight months, not the European Union. Now they pointed out that it might take some time because it's a process in parliament, but it takes quite some time. Now for us, this is not surprising.

3:15 This threat is not surprising. But I would like to point out, it hasn't yet been implemented. I'd say the probability is high that the accelerated implementation and introduction of the original tariff was just a matter of days or weeks. This is not just our hope, but I think anything else would damage both sides. Now we are very optimistic. We still think it's just a threat in order to implement the deal. Thank you, Oliver Bauser. You have the floor. Concerning Near East, Mrs. Ammann, good morning. Now your questions. Impact on the volume. Well, it's limited, as I said in my presentation. As for the rest, just as predicted in our forecast, we think it's temporary and we will have a solution soon.

4:09 It affects not just us, but the entire world economy. So we assume there will soon be a solution, and you partly can see an effect in Q1. Thank you very much, Walter and myself. Next question, please. Next question comes from Christoph Breumeyer from the DPA. Please switch on your mic. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to wish you all the best as well. My question is relatively simple. Now if I do the math, then 1.25 percentage points. This is EUR300 million in Q1. Is that correct? Is my calculation correct? Or did I make a mistake?

5:00 Thank you very much for this mathematical question. I have to hand over to the CFO, because he's perfect in mathematics, Walter Matson. Thank you very much. Well, your calculation is correct. We only give quarter points, not specific figures, but always in quarter points, it's around CHF 300,000,000. This is sales in the automotive industry. That's correct. Okay, thank you. Next question, please. Yes, the next question comes from Felix Stetler from Handelsblad. Please switch on your mic. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, Mr. Schische, also from me, all the best for the future.

5:48 I have a question concerning the business model. The margins with you and with other premium manufacturers are low. Sales are more or less stable. For how long can this go on in the industry? Or how do you manage the turnaround? Thank you very much, Mr. Stittler. Mr. Zippschaft, you have the floor. Good morning, Mr. Stittler. Thank you for your question. I would like to make two comprehensive remarks. Our business model does not come overnight. We have to see it in its entirety.

6:33 BMW has a specific setup. The demands of a worldwide stable individual mobile market is fulfilled, is stable. It has even grown since the pandemic. It's now stable, but as such, it's very dynamic and changes. But all in all, it's very stable. It's one of the most stable industries worldwide. So if there is demand for vehicles, what can we do if the individual components are also very dynamic? Well, you know us. We have a very resilient, we even call it anti fragile strategy. Strategy. We are open to technologies. All of the powertrains are implemented everywhere at any point in time.

7:21 We don't know exactly what the sales will be in a year x in the future. And it's easy to understand because in order to do this, you have to have a lot of capabilities, and we are capable. We also benefit from it strongly. Here are four examples where we see an acute effect. First, the Chinese market, as you know, is decreasing slightly. We think that it will stabilize again in the course of the year, but in Europe, it goes up. We have a global approach to counterbalance this. If you are not working globally, you always depend on regions. We don't. Second example, since the tariffs were risen to 15% last summer in The United States, we had the X5 increased by 10,000 units, almost all of those ICEs.

8:16 At the same time, the purchases in Europe increased. So we were able to react right away because we did have an increase in one powertrain, one vehicle, one market. Third example. Now right now, the outcome is open concerning Iran, but we have an increase in gas prices. And in Europe, more demand for e vehicles. We have the Neue Klase. We increased the production volume. We can react right away. So the reaction in The United States is different from the one in Europe. This, to us, is to be open to technology. And of course, the demand is due to the tariffs, but also the political situation because power is used for other things than for e vehicles in The United States.

9:12 So we have highly efficient ICEs, which is good. So it has an effect, a perfect effect. And in the short run, you cannot install something like this. Then third, we are strong in all of the brands. Mr. Merkel talked about MINI. It has good growth. Rolls Royce, on the other side of the portfolio is also just as stable. So it is not down to the profitability of individual vehicles, but we work in all of the market segments. That's the third pillar of the strategy, MINI, Rolls Royce. And in between, we have more than 40 BMW models. This is why we can work in an antifragile manner. What does the future hold? What is the future of this business model? That was your question. Well, I still think that the hyper optimistic perspective, which still persists individual technologies, does not is not future viable because the success depends on three pillars. It's long term quality.

10:12 Now it's of no use if the vehicle is of no value after two years because you use technologies which are no longer provided or which are just not robust. Then system integration. What does a car feel in its entirety? This is much more important than the very overheated, fast and predominant implementation in vehicles. You see it everywhere in the world. This is not robust. How does it feel to drive a car, drive the Neue classes, symbiotic drive? This is much more important than the individual technology. And then ramp up capabilities. We didn't have to postpone any ramp up, not even by one day.

10:57 This is much more important than to say, I have a show car, I have an announcement, and then I have to delay it for three, four, five years. So the success stories are the system integration, ramp up stability and the open technology and time fragile. So we also have to see how innovative the vehicles are. So sometimes the media also focus on individual technologies, but this is not key to the success of the manufacturers. BMW, and this is totally independent of whether it's Mr. Sipsa or Mr. Nedelkovich, who is the CEO. BMW is very well set up. We believe in a strong future of BMW.

11:48 Now if we have higher profitability also due to fewer tariffs, then of course, we would welcome this. Thank you very much. Thank you, Oliver Sister. Next question, please. The next question comes from Sebastian Asch from ST. Please open your mic. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Fitsen, Mr. Madeline, thank you very much for taking your time this morning to talk to us. Mr. Madeline, our first my first question is, you talked about additionally providing the for the FCA risk scheme. What was the amount in the first quarter?

12:35 And could you please tell us or remind us what the first provision was from this quarter? And then second question, if I may, concerning the tariffs. This is to Mr. Cipse, I think. Now in the past months, you showed us a lot of optimism. You talked about positive expectations concerning the solution of this problem with the tariffs. Last summer, for example, I remember a possible deal with the administration, and you said that you are optimistic that this deal will be implemented swiftly.

13:39 Now, is this going to change? Or let me put it differently: how optimistic are you that this will find a solution in the next weeks or months? Thank you very much, Sebastian. Let's start with SCA. Morning. FCA, you asked about FCA and what our provisions are. Well, we had a slight to medium three digit amount to the 12/31/2025. We had to top it up, unfortunately, to a medium to a high three digit number in the millions. Now you see it in the operating cost and in the financial services, the lost and profit accounts.

14:32 Now as I said, we tried to find a better and more correct solution for the suggestion of October. In December, we filed it. Unfortunately, it was the effect that nothing of this was really assumed. Now usually, you can challenge this because in my eyes, it's disproportionate and still unfair. However, what is it all about without the participation of the banks and the main countries in The UK, it doesn't really make sense to file an opposition. So at the end of the day, we have to top up the provisions. Thank you very much, Walter. This brings us to the second part of the question, Paris and BMW's optimism. Mr. Tipster, you have the floor.

15:28 Well, Karl, Popper said that optimism is an obligation for entrepreneurs. If you're not optimistic, if you are pessimistic, it's of no use to anyone. So we fulfill this obligation. Now that's just what the philosopher said. I remain optimistic because the pressure on the EU is mounting. The answer is not that easy. The answer cannot just be, we're not doing anything, because that would be a very bad answer for the EU. So I stay optimistic. There is increased pressure now, and I am sure that we will have a solution soon. In the past weeks, so in the past weeks, we continued talking to the administration in Washington.

16:20 We said, after the deal, we will continue. I'm sure that we will have an offset deal until the end of the year. We'll have an agreement. And it will foresee that for importers, which are at the same time exporters, there will be an offset. So for each exported vehicle, you're allowed to import one. We get a lot of support, but only if the first part of the deal is carried out, that's the European Union. So I reflect the discussion which we are having in parallel with the American administration. The export model, which is done by BMW, is supported by them strongly. Next question, please. Now our next Aktiengesellschaft. Question comes from Martin Hesse from Bayerische Please open your mic now.

17:13 Good morning, Mr. Zipsellschaft. Now I would like to wish you all the best. I have one political question. You are leaving BMW after seven years, and the government has been in power for one year. What is your opinion on the work of the German government, particularly concerning mobility and the automotive industry? It's still open what the European regulation for the automotive industry will look like in the future. Thank you very much. Mr. Tipster, you have the floor. Mr. Hessen, politics is a difficult business. We see it's very hard to reach a consensus in a democratic environment. We always have an open for all of the topics, but of course, the other parties should be open as well. Not all of our wishes are heard, In particular, concerning the revision of the CO2 regulation, it shall be implemented during the course of the year. We cannot yet be content with this. Just to say, we are open for technologies because we decreased the demand of 100% to 90%. And then in the small print, it is described what the 10% shall look like. And then they introduce a new vehicle category for small vehicles.

18:41 Well, it goes into the right direction, okay, but it won't be enough in order to boost or to maintain even the economic power of the European automotive industry. Now e mobility, well, in Europe, to credibly say that we are faster than China, in China itself, well, you need to challenge this. You need to challenge whether we are still on the right track, whether we still do the right thing for the economy. We firmly believe, as you know, in a long term business model, this is why we further promote e mobility. Still, we believe when we look at 2030 to 2035, well, the best code in Europe will be 15%, that well, this is still exaggerated.

19:34 But yes, we know that politics is a difficult business. We remain open for discussions, and we are happy to contribute whenever we can. Thank you very much, Martin Hasse. Next question, please. The next question comes from Frank Voig from Automobilwoken. Open your mic now. Morning, Mr. Tiffer and Mr. Merkel. I have two questions concerning the Neue Klase. You both underlined that you have a very high order bank and order volume. What about the production? How is the production going? Are you able to fulfill this increased demand?

20:23 How is the rollout the production rollout if you increase production again? Or will you increase the production volume again? That's the first question. And then second question on tariffs, which was discussed before. Mr. Sisten, did I understand you correctly? Did you say that you understand the U. S. Government, that you understand that the U. S. Government now has a stricter approach to the EU? Thank you very much, Mr. Volk. Mr. Pipster, you have the floor. Mr. Volk, we are very happy with the incoming orders for the iX3.

21:13 And we also see for the i3, which is not yet on the market. Still, we have orders coming in. And of course, we are able to fulfill the demand. The question is just when. So the waiting times are a bit too long still, but it's a positive sign. They are not infinitively long. But yes, we have new shifts, and the same will happen in Munich once the i3 is in production. Every third full electric vehicle audit in Europe is an iX3. And those are real pre orders with advanced payments. It's not just increased interest.

21:59 So the plant is doing well, and it corresponds also to our expectations. With the iX3, we are very happy that we have a very high penetration rate. So it's not just the owners who buy the new one, but we do conquer a lot of people from the competition. That's great. If you would like to order an iX3, you will get one, of course, Mr. Polk. Second question, do I have understanding for this call up? I'm not calling it a threat, but this call up to really implement the agreed deal. Yes, I understood that they issued the reminder or the caller, and I'm sure it will lead to a result.

22:49 Next question, please. Next question comes from Stephen Wilmot from The Wall Street Journal. First one, the Chinese market is obviously changing rapidly as we all know. Can you just summarize what changes you're seeing in the nature of the premium car buyer in China and how those are affecting BMW? And secondly, just a couple of clarifications of things that you previously said. You you implied that you've seen an increase in EV demand as a result of the rising oil price. Can you just confirm that's what what you're saying? There may have been some issue with the translation or something. I just wanted to make sure I understood that correctly.

23:41 And secondly, I wasn't totally sure what when when you talk about this system of import for ex in terms of The US tariffs here, the the the you've been arguing for credits for your exports from the from Spartanburg. Are you saying that the US administration is is open to that model that they're just waiting for the EU to fulfill its side of the deal. Is that is that what I understood correctly? Just if you could just clarify what what what's actually happening there and what you expect to to to to happen. Thank you very much.

24:30 Thank you very much, Steven. So let's start with the Chinese market and the offset logic with the US administration. This is mister Pipse. And then by the metal on the effects of what's happening in Iran. Good morning, Steven. So if you're in New York, I'd say good night and not good morning. Let me answer questions one to three, and then I hand over to my colleague. Of course, in the Chinese market, a lot is changing. A high impact has the subsidies for pure e mobility is withdrawn. This comes from the administration.

25:15 It's not just driven by the market. It had a huge effect on the Chinese manufacturers, particularly in the first quarter. You need to understand this when you look at the market. Then BMW, China is still our biggest market and it's a central technology driver. We showed this also at the trade show. We don't have to go into detail. Now we showed that we have a very close cooperation and we have the empowerment of the production sites. And of course, in 2026, we had six and twenty five thousand vehicles. It's the largest individual market. And in Q1, we so you always have to look at it in relative terms. I think that's highly important.

26:05 We have the Neue Klase. It's similar to Europe, and it's very popular, the Neue Klase. And we think that it will be welcomed there as well with open arms. Of course, the market normalizes because in a normal market, which is so big, Chinese manufacturers, both on the delivery side and also on the market side, are dominant. It's just like in Europe and The United States. They adjust and they become the dominant players. So it's not that surprising what we see in China. They are highly innovative. I think that's clear. But we still firmly believe that China will remain our biggest market also in the future.

26:54 Now I can just confirm what I said before. I think that for The United States, a good business model is to have export oriented companies to focus on them, to promote their activities and not just local for local. So where we have the business model, we are heard. So in order to answer your questions, yes, I do believe that in the past weeks and months, this will be heard and will also be implemented. Thank you very much, Oliver. Now concerning Iran and best demand.

27:39 Walter, you have the floor. Thank you very much. The best demand depends on the region. And in Europe, we said that more than 60% increase we have more than 60% increase in Q1 twenty twenty five. Whether this is due to Iran or because of our fantastic IX3, we can discuss this, of course. Both will have an effect probably. In other regions, in China, in The United States, we just mentioned it before, in The United States because there is this withdrawal of subsidies. The demand is no longer that strong in the entire market and in China. And also here, as Mr. Sibste said, as before, look at the price segments where we feel the withdrawal of subsidies with vehicles up to $120,000 And if you look at the overall decrease of volume in the Chinese market, then you see twothree are from the price band up to $20,000 and the rest from the price band up to $40,000 So you see that we have a different impact at BMW than with others. Okay, thank you very much. Next question, please.

29:01 Next question comes from Leonard Bruce from PoliticoEU. Please open your mic now. Yes. Hello. Good morning. Thank you for taking the time. Staying with the Chinese market, I have two questions. One of them sort of doubling down on what Stephen asked. I understand that you expect the Chinese market to stabilize in the rest of the year. And I also understand that you aim to remain a significant player in the market. But I would be interested in how exactly you're planning on doing that. So I'm wondering, will this be a pricing strategy? Will you work on technologies that will convince the Chinese market? So I'm looking to better understand the avenue through which you become or remain a dominant player in China. And then secondly, regarding the status quo, I understand the market is down in China right now overall, and you're less affected by that than some other players.

29:59 Although I would be also interested to get a better understanding of what is your sense of why that is the case right now? Again, is this a pricing problem? Or is it possibly also a technology gap? Specifically, could this be automatic driving technologies where perhaps other players are more advanced and which becomes an increasingly important technology for Chinese customers? Thank you. Good. Thank you. And I hand over to Walter Mette. Good morning, Mr. Rose. You know that the Q1 overall market was decreased by 17.5% and the CPCA has an annual forecast, which was corrected.

30:47 Minus 7.6% is the forecast now. End of this week or next week, it might even be down to 8%. Now there's one factor why we are still important, namely our openness to technology, our vehicles. We are known as Bauma, so the purchase force, we shouldn't forget this. This stands for value in itself. We have very good cars. Otherwise, we would see a massive decline in the volume as well. This is not given. You know that we've done a lot of things for one point five years. We did wide size the dealers. We closed dealers. We also opened up dealers in other sites. Then we boosted the dealer performance by training. This is one large element.

31:36 We also carried out product measures in the past months. So as a result, we also declined list prices. We lowered them, and those dealers are independent. The transaction prices are done by the dealers, not on our list prices. Now in combination with the product measures, the result was that the list prices were lower. The transaction prices increased slightly in the first quarter. This is positive. The vehicles are still appealing. Now concerning the forecast in China, well, with the Neue Plaza and the momentous stack, so we will be on eye level with the Chinese offering parties, many clients, and we showed it in China at the trade fair. We also showed the positive demand of the i7, the iX3, i3. Everyone wants to have this car. And we can't expect in Q4 and we can expect in Q4 to offer the cars. So pricing is okay.

32:40 You very much. Bayerische Werke, next question please. Well, the next question comes from Stefan Rodomski from Deutsche Zeitung. Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Tietze, as a farewell, I have a fundamental question for you. Now we heard in the past several times there are rumors really that Chinese manufacturers might enter the factories in Europe or Germany with their Chinese cars and then produce their cars here.

33:28 Now it's very hard to comment on what others are doing, but it's just a fundamental question. Is that a risk, do you think? Might this open up a door which you will be unable to shut? Or do you think that's positive because the plants can be maintained? Because if the Chinese don't come in, then they would have to be reduced in size. Thank you. Oliver Zipse has the floor. Mr. Rodonski, good morning. Thank you very much for your question. It's not that easy to understand what happens in the industry.

34:14 2025, BMW sold or built more than 1,000,000 cars in Germany as much as never before, and 25% of the entire car production comes from BMW. So not the large manufacturers produce most, but BMW is actually a small manufacturer, but BMW is there at the forefront. Now in the eyes of BMW, we don't have to reduce capacity at all. Look at Regensburg 2025, it's the strongest plant and we have full capacity utilization. Leipzig is the only plant in Germany where BMW and MINI are run on one belt. And then in Munich, we have the preparations for BMW i3. We invested into that. So the plant in Munich will be like the one in Depression.

35:12 So we will have several shifts there as well, and this will start off in August. Dingolfing will have the rollout of the new seven. And from Neueclase, it will produce the ICE model. Maybe you heard that the Neueclase is not just an e car, but there is an ICE on its own platform. This will then be produced in Dingoschen. Spartanburg has an all time high of 430,000 units. Depresen will produce for the high demand of the iX3. So this question is not relevant for us. The production doesn't just mean that cars are assembled by some people. No, it's about system integration of highly complex products. It's much more than just an assembly plant.

36:06 And of course, this is indispensable for the success of our company. Thank you very much. This brings us to the last three questions. First question, please. Yes, the next question comes from Timothy Loe from Bloomberg News. Please open your mic now. Thank you. I just wanted to ask real quick, given the full landscape of things with the tariffs and with China and disruption in The Middle East. In March, we had the impression that maybe you thought that the first half of this year was going to be a trough, maybe even first quarter and that things would maybe accelerate later in the year. I'm just curious, do you still believe that now given what you've alluded to in the report as like the auto industry is generally has been sort of like expectations ratcheted down. Do you still believe that early in the year is the trough and it will get better for BMW later in the year?

37:11 Good. Thank you. Walter, Mattel, you have the floor. Thank you. Yes, we think that. We work on it every day. In Q1, we showed good performance just as announced in March and in Q3. We said that we have a high burden from the tariffs and also because of the currencies. We reported it as such. In the second quarter, the currencies will still be an extra burden as we saw in Q1. We already announced this, and the discussion of the tariffs was already explained. And for the second half, the good momentum is that we roll out the Neue Plaza more and more. This is why we're optimistic.

37:58 Thank you very much. Next question, please. Next question comes from Joachim Heer from Bermanfaitung. Good morning. I have a follow-up question concerning the Near East, probably to Mr. Merlez. Now how much of your overall sales can be found in that region comes from that region? And you are highly optimistic that the conflict will be solved soon. But I guess or that's the question, Can you picture a scenario if this won't happen that you then have to take corresponding measures?

38:49 Second question, it seems that because of the high gas prices, the demand for e vehicles increases, particularly in Europe. Do you think that this trend is going to continue even if the prices are lowered, even if the conflict is resolved? Do you think this will continue? Thank you very much. Joachim, Bayerische Motoren Werke, you have the floor. Mr. Her, good morning. The volume share of The Middle East is less than 1.5%. You are asking about scenarios. You know that BMW is always prepared for mitigations.

39:34 And of course, we are doing this now as well. And the best demand within the EU, as I said, whether this is due to gas prices, whether this is due to something else or because of the wonderful product, i3 and iX3, we can discuss this, of course, as we already told your colleague. Of course, all of the factors will play a role. I focus on our very good product, and I'm sure this is why the demand increased by more than 60% for BEP in the past year. Okay. Last question? Yes. Last question comes from Regina Inclair from Medien Press, Bayerische Aktiengesellschaft. Mrs. Mcleer, please open your mic.

40:21 Morning. Thank you for handing me the floor. Mr. Sipser, first of all, all the best for you. I have one question concerning the costs, which Mr. Merkel mentioned, costs in Munich, 10%. How can this be implemented? Does that mean that this will only be solved through HR costs or costs for staff? Thank you very much, Mr. Mehta. You have the floor. Mrs. Encleer, good morning. It's about the overall setup. We have a new product, and we have more efficiency and more productivity in the plant, as with every new product. So we install the newest technologies in our plant, and this is why we have better technologies, better working processes, and this allows us to reduce the costs. We are just more efficient.

41:19 Thank you very much, Mr. Merte. This brings us to the end of the call. I have some personal remarks. Oliver, we all know that this was your last call after thirty five years at B and W and more than ten years at the Board of Management. You assumed the responsibility in a very dynamic volatile time, which and it was very hard to make plans. With the Neue Klase, you initiated one of the most important projects in the company history. And technology neutrality, you showed us, is the right path. On the May 30, you will be there for the shareholders at annual conference.

42:07 And in name of the analysts, journalists and shareholders, we say thank you for 20 quarterly calls and seven annual conferences and annual assemblies. Thank you very much. Thank you for everything. So thank you very much from Munich. We will speak