Munich — In a surprise strategic pivot on 4 November 2026, BMW announced it has adjusted its full‑year 2026 outlook and will expand and accelerate portfolio and structural measures while stepping up the ramp of its Neue Klasse models. The manufacturer said the changes will push a non‑operational earnings charge into Q4 and reduce the reported Automotive EBIT‑margin guidance to between -0.5% and +0.5% for 2026 — down from the prior 1–3% corridor — figures that matter for dealers, employees and buyers across Germany and Austria.
Numbers and measures: what BMW disclosed
BMW reported a robust third quarter with group earnings before tax of €2,083 million and year‑to‑date EBT of €6,128 million; Automotive segment revenue in Q3 was €26,669 million and the Automotive EBIT margin for the quarter came in at 3.4%. Deliveries to customers in Q3 totalled 551,075 vehicles and 1,707,802 for the nine‑month period. Fully electric vehicles made up 20% of BMW’s Q3 sales (BEV + PHEV 27.4%) and nearly 35% of European deliveries were battery‑electric.
Management said it will “expand and intensify” portfolio and structural measures to speed the company’s realignment and that these steps will create a non‑operational drag on the Automotive result in Q4. The company quantified headwinds in the full‑year guidance: roughly 1.25 percentage points of the Automotive EBIT margin from higher import tariffs and about 1.2 percentage points from depreciation and amortisation linked to the BBA purchase price allocation — plus approximately 2.5 percentage points from the portfolio and structural measures themselves.
CEO Milan Nedeljković said the firm will “intensify and accelerate structural measures” to improve agility and competitiveness, and CFO Walter Mertl added that speed is a “key success factor” as BMW realigns around Neue Klasse technology. Management also confirmed further production shifts to accelerate Neue Klasse ramp‑up and earlier phase‑out of some Gen5 battery models.
