BMW said third-quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 17 percent to €2.26 billion ($2.83 billion) as surging demand for its SUVs more than offset slow sales of its electric cars and Mini brand.
Net profit, however, slipped 1 percent to €1.31 billion. BMW said this was due to a higher tax bill and a writedown on the value of its stake in carbon fiber manufacturer SGL Carbon.
Audi’s profitability slipped during the third quarter as spending on new factories and models outweighed gains from record sales.
Profit as a proportion of sales at Audi eased to 9.2 percent in the third quarter, from 9.4 percent a year ago, the carmaker said.
Daimler has opened a research and development center in Beijing tasked with further tuning its Mercedes-Benz brand to wealthy Chinese tastes and closing the sales gap with Audi and BMW brand.
Mercedes’s China sales rose 30.5 percent to 203,485 in the first nine months, trailing BMW, which sold 335,863, a rise of 18 percent. Sales of luxury market leader Audi rose 16 percent to 415,704 in the same period.
Mercedes-Benz Portugal has just delivered a new surfboard to Garrett McNamara entirely made of almost entirely from Portuguese cork, a project done in partnership with Corticeira Amorim.
Automakers Monday reported mostly higher US sales in October behind rising consumer confidence and lower gasoline prices.
