8:11 am, November 4, 2026
BMW has reported an 11% fall in quarterly pre-tax profits as the German manufacturer prepares for further financial pain from a major restructuring programme involving around 8,000 job cuts.
The carmaker saw pre-tax profits decline to €2.08bn (£1.74bn) in the three months to September 30, down 10.6% on the same period last year.
Group revenues also fell 5.8% to €30.45bn (£25.42bn), while operating profits in its core automotive division dropped 39.7% to €901m (£752m).
The results come after BMW cut its full-year profit forecast for the second time in less than five months, blaming restructuring costs and challenging trading conditions, particularly in China.
The manufacturer now expects its automotive operating profit margin to finish 2026 between minus 0.5% and plus 0.5%, compared with its previous forecast of 1% to 3%.
Its third-quarter automotive margin stood at 3.4%, down from 5.2% a year earlier.
According to Reuters, the quarterly pre-tax profit figure was in line with analysts’ expectations, while the automotive margin exceeded forecasts of 3.1%.
The downgrade comes as BMW accelerates a restructuring programme that Reuters reports includes around 8,000 job cuts in Germany.
Bosses have also confirmed plans to reduce management positions more quickly than previously announced.
In a financial statement, Milan Nedeljković, chairman of BMW’s board of management, said: ‘Current developments in our industry call for decisiveness and swift implementation. We will therefore specifically intensify and accelerate structural measures.’
He added: ‘By doing so we are realigning our company and improving our agility and long-term competitiveness.’
BMW’s financial performance has been hit particularly hard by falling demand in China, where its third-quarter vehicle sales declined by around 25%. Growth in Europe and the US was not enough to offset the slump.
Across the group, BMW delivered 551,075 vehicles during the quarter, a fall of 6.3% compared with the same period last year.
BMW-branded deliveries dropped 6.8% to 479,294, while Mini sales fell 2.4% to 70,712.
Rolls-Royce also recorded a decline, with deliveries down 18% to 1,069 vehicles.
For the first nine months of 2026, group deliveries totalled 1.71 million vehicles, down 4.9% year on year.
BMW is now looking to accelerate the introduction of its Neue Klasse models, which it believes will help improve profitability over the coming years.
Strong demand for the new-generation vehicles has prompted BMW to introduce additional production shifts and begin phasing out some older models and technologies earlier than planned.
The changes will add to costs in the final quarter of 2026, although BMW expects its automotive operating margin before restructuring and portfolio measures to remain above 2%.
There was some more encouraging news for BMW’s electric vehicle business.
Fully electric models accounted for 20% of group deliveries during the third quarter, rising to 27.4% when plug-in hybrids were included.
In Europe, electrified vehicles accounted for 46.9% of deliveries, including a 34.7% share for fully-electric cars.
BMW’s financial services division also reported pre-tax profits of €639m (£533m) for the quarter, down 0.8% year on year.
However, the manufacturer acknowledged that its financial services performance over the first nine months had been affected by an additional provision relating to the UK’s motor finance compensation scandal.
The provision was made during the first quarter as the industry prepared for the Financial Conduct Authority’s proposed redress scheme.