BMW wants to keep things simple to offset R&D costs

According to foreign media reports, BMW Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said that BMW announced that it would simplify production procedures, and the engine and parts configuration would be relatively reduced, hoping to offset part of the high R&D costs before 2019.

In addition to strengthening the internal combustion engine technology to cope with increasingly stringent emission tests, BMW is currently also developing electric vehicles, autonomous driving technology and network technology. At the same time, the vigorous promotion of electric vehicles in the Chinese market has also forced European automakers to accelerate the development and launch of hybrid or pure electric vehicles, which has also increased the R&D investment costs of automakers.

In 2016, BMW invested $5.9 billion, or 5.5% of its total revenue, in research and development. Peter told reporters on Wednesday that in the next three years, BMW's research and development investment will account for about 5.5% to 6% of its total revenue.

Since electric and hybrid cars generate lower profits than gasoline and diesel cars, BMW hopes to save costs by reducing engines and configurations.

The manual transmission version of the BMW 2 Series will be phased out in the US market to reduce the inspection costs of parts. In addition, the entry-level diesel version of the new 5 Series will also give up the manual transmission version, and the engine configuration will also be reduced. Peter said that the 5 Series on sale has launched 4 diesel engine configurations, and it is very likely that the next generation of models will no longer have 4 diesel engine configurations.

After the release of the new BMW 5 Series luxury sedan, BMW's sales have increased rapidly, exceeding expectations. BMW's sales in China have also shown double-digit growth, and with the release of the long-wheelbase 5 Series and X1, BMW's sales in China will continue to maintain a high growth trend.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.