BMW is not making any major decisions based on the current financial crisis and slowdown in vehicle markets.
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Klaus Draeger, head of R&D and purchasing, told Automobilwoche that it was too early to draw any conclusions. “We will continue with our current strategy into 2009, and after the first half of the year we will see where things are taking us.”
BMW is suffering from the big decline in the US market, as well as its domestic German market. The company has had to cut back production in the US because of the drastic slowdown in demand there.
Draeger spoke ahead of a board meeting today at which the financial crisis is top of the agenda.
He also called on the German government to make a decision over planned new CO2-based taxes for new cars. “We have been suffering for a long time because there has been not clarity on CO2 regulation,” he said, referring also to other European countries.
In Portugal and France, where there is CO2 taxation, BMW as been able to avoid a fall in sales, because it has been able to actively market its EfficientDynamics models, according to Draeger. He said that these models appear to be holding their values more than other cars.
