BMW will not be buying Volvo from Ford. Management board chairman Norbert Reithofer put paid to speculation at the Frankfurt show.
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“Let’s put it this way, BMW is known as a rear-wheel-drive car company, a certain Swedish manufacturer makes front-wheel-drive cars, so where are the synergies?”
He is happy for BMW to forge ahead on its own, with a little help from its friends.
“We have a number of technology co-operations with other car companies and suppliers and this gives us a lot more flexibility rather than being tied into joint ventures or alliances.
“We see the benefits of this in terms of new engine and environmental technology.”
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By GlobalDataThis will allow BMW to reach the EU’s targets of reducing average CO2 emissions across its range by 25% between 1995 and 2008.”
He added that through the company’s Efficient Dynamics strategy it was now producing cleaner engines and lighter vehicles.
BMW is working on alternative fuels and has changed its customers’ perception of diesel engines over time.
“In the UK for example, we moved from 7% diesel to 70% diesel within the space of five years.” Reithofer said.
Could BMW do the same in the United States? “We are optimistic – but not that optimistic.”
BMW is also in good shape financially and Reithofer put down reports of poor profit margins on the sales of its cars.
“The car division could do better but as a group, including motorcycles and financial services, our margin is 7.2% according to an independent survey and that is second only to Toyota group.”
BMW plans to sell 1.4m vehicles worldwide this year and is planning to increase capacity, particularly in the United States where he said plans were moving ahead to increase output at Spartanburg from 140,000 vehicles a year to “substantially more than 200,000”.
While this could put the company at risk against a weak dollar, Reithofer said that this would be offset by sourcing more components in North America.
Production at the Mini factory in Oxford has recently been raised to 240,000 vehicles a year while production of over 41,000 cars in China next year will outstrip original plans for 30,000.
