BERLIN: BMW expects to reach the upper end of its 7 -- 9 per cent margin target for the cars business and sees slight sales growth in China in the third quarter, CFO Nicolas Peter said in a roundtable on Monday.
In Europe, order books were still full, but demand was weak in Germany and the United Kingdom and stronger in France, Spain and Italy.
The luxury carmaker expected to hit its target of 10 per cent fully electric sales this year at around 240,000 -- 245,000 vehicles, and could see that figure rise to around 400,000 next year, Peter said.
Peter said BMW had reduced its gas intake in Germany and Austria by 15 per cent and expected to be able to cut it further, asked how BMW was responding to the gas shortage in Europe.
Peter said that the issue of gas will not have a direct impact on us this year, and they have not seen any production cuts in its supplier network so far.
Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz have outlined contingency plans in the past week if their supplier networks don't deliver parts, including increasing orders from suppliers outside of the European countries most affected by the gas crisis.
Peter said that BMW had developed a closer relationship with its supplier network because of the chip shortage, but he didn't give any specifics on whether BMW was doing the same.