"This year, the BMW Group will launch a strong new energy vehicle offensive to provide five new energy vehicles in the Chinese market, including the launch of the pure electric 3 series at the Shenyang production base, and the pure electric 7 series that will debut in China in the near future." On March 16, at the 2021 annual meeting of the BMW Group's financial report, CHIPZER, chairman of the BMW Group, said in his speech. A German luxury car company can attach such importance to the Chinese market, in the past we may think of audi cars, but after experiencing breakthrough revenue growth in recent years, it is not difficult to understand why BMW will pay more attention to the Chinese market.
At the annual meeting of the earnings report, Chiptzer repeatedly stressed the importance of the Chinese market for BMW, believing that China will become an important fulcrum of BMW's long-term strategy in the future. He also said that in BMW's global layout, China is the largest and fastest growing market, and China's technological development, especially in electrification and digitalization, has been providing a strong driving force for BMW's technological innovation. Next, BMW will launch a strong new energy vehicle offensive in China and continue to increase investment to achieve the same frequency with the Chinese market.
The annual revenue reached a new high The Chinese market contributed a lot
In terms of financial report data, the total revenue of BMW Group reached 111.239 billion yuan, an increase of 12.4% year-on-year; the total pre-tax revenue was 16.06 billion euros, an increase of 207.5% year-on-year; the net profit was 12.463 billion euros, an increase of 223.1%; the most eye-catching performance was undoubtedly the year-on-year growth rate of total revenue, ranking first among the top three German luxury companies, such excellent financial data is inseparable from the explosive growth of BMW Group in automobile sales.
In 2021, the BMW Group delivered a total of 2.5215 million new cars worldwide, an increase of 8.4% year-on-year, which not only ranked first in the top three German luxury companies, but even made the BMW Group the world's top luxury car sales in 2021. What is more noteworthy is that the BMW Group has a positive year-on-year growth of 8.4% while high sales, which is indeed better than the year-on-year decline of Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
In addition to high sales, BMW believes that the improvement of financial data is inseparable from more reasonable pricing and perfect product arrays, of course, the Chinese market has also played an important role in accelerating the development of the BMW Group to the future, Chiptzer believes that "China is the vane of many fields of the current automotive industry, and even sets a benchmark for global development." ”
In the Chinese market, the BMW Group won the luxury brand sales championship with 846,000 units (including the MINI brand) in 2021, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year. If calculated according to the average transaction price of 416,700 yuan, BMW's total revenue in the Chinese auto market in 2021 will be 352.6 billion yuan, about 51.03 billion euros. If you add non-automotive businesses that are not included in the statistics, BMW's total revenue in the Chinese market is roughly 50% of global revenue. Including the completion of the share reform by BMW Brilliance in February this year, which brought a one-time revenue growth of 40% to BMW, and BMW Brilliance will be fully integrated into the financial statements of the BMW Group in 2022, which will directly increase the revenue of the automotive division by 7-8 billion euros.
Although the BMW Group said it would advance with the Chinese market, in February this year, BMW announced that the joint venture with the Chinese partner would be extended to 2040. "The extended joint venture agreement lays the foundation for our further common growth and gradual development in the future. This is not just a digital concept, the prosperity of Liaoning Province is important to us, and this sustainable success will run through our long-term vision with BMW Brilliance. Ziptzer said.
However, from the perspective of BMW's increase in the share ratio of BMW Brilliance's joint venture company to 75% in February this year, and bmw's acquisition of Brilliance Automotive Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Brilliance Group, last year, BMW has made a lot of money in the Chinese market, and this behavior is more like BMW Brilliance one-way delivery of benefits to BMW Group, while the partner Brilliance Group is like a neglected object. As early as the end of 2020, Brilliance Auto had declared bankruptcy, and Qi Yumin, then chairman of Brilliance Auto, was also investigated by the Liaoning Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, and on June 19, 2021, he was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes, embezzling public funds, and abusing power by personnel of state-owned companies.
When the partner is on the verge of bankruptcy, expanding the equity ratio of the joint venture company, acquiring the assets of the partner at a low price, resulting in the loss of a huge amount of state-owned assets, is this really bmw's so-called "same frequency and common progress"? At present, we do not know the answer to this question. However, compared with BMW Brilliance, perhaps joint ventures such as FAW-Volkswagen and Beijing Benz are more conducive to benign development, which can ensure the interests of both China and foreign countries and make sustainable development stronger.
Accelerate electrification and expand investment in China
After the BMW Group increased the share ratio of BMW Brilliance, it will undoubtedly be more open-handed and seek greater interests in the Chinese market. In the next fiscal year, the BMW Group will accelerate towards electrification and digital transformation, with the Chinese market being a top priority.
According to BMW's plan, the mass production and trial production of pure electric vehicle models will reach 15 in 2022; the "new generation" model based on the new structure will begin trial production in 2024 and be unveiled in 2025; by the end of 2025, the BMW Group plans to complete the delivery of 2 million pure electric vehicles worldwide. By 2030, the BMW Group plans to deliver a total of 10 million pure electric vehicles to customers. At that time, the bmw group Rolls-Royce, BMW Motorrad urban mobility series and MINI three brands will be fully electrified.
In the Chinese market, BMW will launch five new energy vehicles this year, including the pure electric 3 series launched at the Shenyang production base and the pure electric 7 series that will be launched in China in April. By the end of 2023, the BMW Group will offer around 13 pure electric products in the Chinese market, and plans to sell more than 25% of its pure electric models in the Chinese market by 2025. In terms of production capacity, the BMW Group will build a new plant in Tiexi District this year, and another new plant in Tiexi District is also under construction. The investment in the two new plants will expand BMW's production capacity in China, further increase the variety of locally produced models, and introduce more pure electric models for domestic production.
In addition to new models and vehicle production capacity, BMW is also laying out the new energy industry chain in China. BMW Brilliance is the first joint venture in China to establish a power battery center, and the second phase of its power battery center will be put into operation in 2020. At the same time, BMW has also strengthened cooperation with domestic battery companies, energy companies and high-tech companies to enhance its capabilities in the research and development, production and service of electric vehicles. By the end of 2021, the BMW Group has set up 360,000 charging piles in China, including 200,000 DC fast charging piles.
Write at the end
In the 2021 fiscal year, the bmw group's achievements are dazzling enough, whether it is financial data or sales data, the BMW group has shown a good momentum. Behind such achievements is inseparable from the strong driving force of the Chinese market, but it is worth pondering how the cooperation between BMW Group and Brilliance Group and even the Chinese market can make the two sides go hand in hand, develop benignly and make progress together? At present, we only see the interests tilted to the BMW side, as to whether the future can achieve a real "same frequency together", perhaps in 2022 BMW Group's financial report will give us the answer.