BMW Strengthens in Q1 2010

As the international automotive industry is on a rebound from the troubles of last year, nearly all carmakers posted strong numbers for the first quarter of 2010. In BMW's case, those numbers show an 8.1 percent increase in revenues, amounting to 12.43 billion euros.

"The BMW Group has made a good start to 2010. We increased earnings significantly in the first quarter and are now back on a growth course on almost all car markets,” Norbert Reithofer, BMW chairman of the board said in a release. “The BMW Group continues to make good progress with its Strategy Number ONE.”

The increased revenue means that BMW has increased its profit before tax to 508 million euros, up from the 152 million loss posted for the same period last year. EBIT for the group stands at 449 million, while the total number of vehicles sold by BMW reached 315,614 units, a 13.8 increase compared to Q1 2009.

With rival Daimler revising the EBIT estimate several times these past two months, BMW couldn't lag behind. BMW is a bit more cautious however and predicts an EBIT margin increase of a low single-digit percentage. The carmaker still plans to reach an EBIT margin of 8-10 percent by 2012.

“We are aiming to achieve significantly higher group earnings in 2010 than in 2009, thus making a tangible step towards achieving the targets we have set for 2012,” Reithofer added. “We expect that earnings will grow dynamically over the course of the year.”