BMW's third quarter 2017 profit before financial result (EBIT) fell 3.2% year on year to EUR2,304m due to "significantly higher investments, as well as expenses for research and development", the company said.
Pretax profit (EBT) was off 5.9% to EUR2,422m and margin down to 10.3% from 11.0%. Group net profit also dipped to EUR1,789m from EUR1,821m in Q3 2016.
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Deliveries of the group's BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles in the third quarter increased 1.2% to 590,415 units but currency factors meant revenue rose only 0.3% to EUR23,424m.
"As expected, increased costs in the third quarter dampened earnings," the automaker said in a statement.
Unit sales in the first nine months of 2017 increased 3.7% to 1,811,234 units while revenue rose 5% to EUR72,671m. EBIT rose 4.2% to EUR7,879m, EBT was EUR8,482m versus EUR7,741m, up 9.6%. EBT margin rose to 11.7% from 11.2% and net profit increased 13.7% to EUR6,152m.
BMW brand vehicle sales worldwide rose 3.9% to 1,537,497 units passing the 1.5m mark for the first time in the first three quarters of a financial year.
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By GlobalDataMini volume rose 2.8% to 271,394, a brand record.
Rolls-Royce sales slipped 10.7% to 2,343 following the ending of first generation Phantom output. First sales of the redesigned model are expected in January 2018.
The brand cited "challenging market conditions within the global luxury sector in a number of regions around the world" as another reason for the sales fall.
"Significant rebalancing of the company's manufacturing plant in preparation for new models has proceeded throughout this period," R-R said. It claims to already have "a strong order book" for the new Phantom.
