BMW profits

unkel

BMW have been the best selling luxury car manufacturer in the world for a few years now. They're set to make a gross profit of €4 billion this year. That is an astonishing €10k per car :eek:

Article

mike65

Confirms what we all knew - marketing works!

Mike.

junkyard

Actually quality works.

maidhc

junkyard wrote:

Actually quality works.

I don't doubt they make good cars, but a lot of it is marketing too. You get similar quality from much cheaper brands.

junkyard

maidhc wrote:

I don't doubt they make good cars, but a lot of it is marketing too. You get similar quality from much cheaper brands.

You don't get the overall package and great resale from other makes. I've admired BMW build quality for years and I don't think any other car manufacturer comes close to building cars as well as BMW does....especially Mercedes-Benz. The only Mercedes-Benz worth buying is an S or SL as far as I'm concerned.

mike65

BMW are able to build a car thats costs no more than an equivalent model from A.N Other company and ad 10-15% to the sticker price.

In the UK the 3 series outsells the Mondeo, I imagine BMW hug themselves in disbelif while Ford furrow thier brow wondering what to do.

Mike.

junkyard

Ford should do what Toyota did and come out with a "Lexus" brand. Ford generally means "as common as muck" even though the modern Fords are a great car.

maidhc

junkyard wrote:

Ford should do what Toyota did and come out with a "Lexus" brand. Ford generally means "as common as muck" even though the modern Fords are a great car.

Range Rover,
Volvo,
Jaguar,
Aston Martin,
Daimler.

Pity they can't turn a profit out of any. Ford suffers from an image problem to be sure, but in Europe at least I don't think it is affecting them all that much. Some people will never buy a ford anyhow because of its somewhat proletarian heritage, although I am quite proud to drive a car by the company that has done more than any other to being motoring to the ordinary people.

junkyard

I think Ford needs its own luxury brand not just to buy out another prestige brand name. They need to compete with BMW, Honda and Lexus and the likes of them. Thats where the real profits are not up in Ferrari territory. You need volume to make real profits.

maidhc

Jaguar was supposed to be their lexus, and I suppose it will work out in the end.

I think though Lexus worked because people knew they were Toyotas built with extra tlc, and most people would see that as a good thing because of Toyotas reputation. Ford don't have same unique selling point.

What I find impressive about BMWs marketing is its consistency. I was looking at a BMW ad in a 1978 edition of the National Geographic, and it sold the cars the same way as the 2006 might. Same catchphrase "Ultimate driving machine", same imagery, the only difference was the cars.

I attach it for viewing pleasure.

damo605

BMW's marketing department should definitely be commended - No other car manufacturer would get away with selling such flawed cars and retain the image and desirability that they do for their brand…

Owen

10k per car? In your dreams. I work for a BMW Dealership, and on some of the deals we do, we're lucky to make a few hundred Euro, it's THAT compeditive out there now.

junkyard

damo605 wrote:

BMW's marketing department should definitely be commended - No other car manufacturer would get away with selling such flawed cars and retain the image and desirability that they do for their brand…

You better explain yourself, what do you mean by "flawed".:)

RoundyMooney

ned78 wrote:

10k per car? In your dreams. I work for a BMW Dealership, and on some of the deals we do, we're lucky to make a few hundred Euro, it's THAT compeditive out there now.

Whatever about the 10k figure, that did not refer to dealership profit.

Servicing costs are another factor, if you want to go down that road...

junkyard wrote:

You better explain yourself, what do you mean by "flawed".:)

I'm waiting on that as well.

damo605

junkyard wrote:

You better explain yourself, what do you mean by "flawed".:)

No Comment, just feel that way from my experience

RoundyMooney

What happened?

Or have you told us already, in which case, apologies.

The search function is lamentable at the moment.

Robbo

damo605 wrote:

No Comment, just feel that way from my experience

Well, an unqualified internet conjecture, that's good enough for me!

Seriously though, to take the BMW profits for one financial year and compare them to the amount of cars sold and then come up with a figure of 10k per car is, at best, spurious.

Firstly, you assume that BMW makes all it's money from car sales. Now I'm not entirely au fait with the group's portfolio but I'd assume they also have some cash tucked away in stocks, bonds, properties and other investements. Moreover, the sale of spares and accessories may also contribute to these.

Secondly, we're talking about one year's results. Bumper results for one year may be a result of many things other than widespread profiteering; restructuring, change of accounting practices, legislation changes and the like may all contribute to this.

Thirdly, there's been assumptions made as towards BMWs cost base and those of other manufacturers in relation to retail price. On other forums (*cough*politics*cough) someone might step in here and call for referenced facts'n'figures instead of those plucked from the ether.

Now not for one minute am I endorsing or condoning naked BMW profiteering, I am however questioning kneejerk internet posturing.

stepbar

ned78 wrote:

10k per car? In your dreams. I work for a BMW Dealership, and on some of the deals we do, we're lucky to make a few hundred Euro, it's THAT compeditive out there now.

Mind you I havent met a poor BMW dealership owner yet....

damo605

RoundyMooney wrote:

What happened?

Or have you told us already, in which case, apologies.

The search function is lamentable at the moment.

Yea, If the search function was working you'd understand!

I don't want to get into another argument re BMW but yes, I had an E34 and it was a bucket of sh1te - wasn't that there was anything in particular about the car that I had, spent a lot of time on the bmw forums and every problem I had seemed to be all common problems/faults and it cost me an absolute fortune trying to keep that car on the road. Other people I knew who had E34's and E36's had nothing but trouble aswell- Ask Dukedredd for example - A good friend of mine and I will never forget the hassle he had (And I had) trying to sort out his E36 - He'll tell ya what they can be like
I will admit I work with a guy who has an E30 with big mileage and he has very little trouble.... But I also know there are a few almost new 5 series in the town where I live and they have been towed outa town more times than they have been driven out!
As I said, I do not want an argument - I have had a bad experience with BMW and I know quiet a few people who have had bad experiences (Funnily enough I do not know one person who has had a good experience with a '90's or newer bmw, but then again maybe the people I know haven't the money for a new or newish model).
I don't know, maybe it's just the beamers in this part of the country that are dodgey but personally I wouldn't have another one - If I had no choice but to have one I'd make sure the warranty was iron clad
I know there is gonna be a million replys now saying how great bmws are but I am just stating my opinion, based on my experience so, please, no hard feelings.
If anyone is considering buying a BMW - Please do one thing: Go on a few BMW forums and check out the amount of people looking for help with problems with their cars.... And then: Go on a Toyota/Honda/Whatever forum and compare the posts.....
Regards,
Damo

junkyard

If thats the case BMW might be suffering from the same problem that Mercedes-Benz suffer from whereby the cheaper and smaller models are not built to the same high standards as the more expensive models. I have to admit the smallest BMW I've owned is an E39 M5, the rest of them were 7 series of one shape or another and I have an X5 aswell and haven't had any trouble. I did have a 1989 520 years ago and the car was always struggling as it was only a 2 litre and I did have to do the head gasket.