Posts Tagged ‘second quarter’

BMW Remains On Top

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Second-quarter profits indicate that BMW is still the best when it comes to luxury cars makers.

  • BMW’s net profit for the 2nd quarter rose to $1.1 billion, and sales rose 12.5%.
  • Although the luxury car market was hit hard by the economic downturn, there has been a faster-than-expected rebound.
  • The new generation 5-Series is expected to boost sales even further.

Facts & Figures

  • BMW is the world’s best-selling luxury car maker, ahead of Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
  • In the first 6 months of 2010, 696,026 BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce cars were sold.
  • BMW now expects sales to rise by approximately 10% (to more than 1.4 million cars) in 2010, which is significantly more than expected at the beginning of the year.

Best Quote

“Sharp sales volume growth on major markets and a high-value model mix are the main reasons for the strong second-quarter performance. [BMW] improved efficiency significantly in all areas of the company.” – Norbert Reithofer, Cheif Executive, BMW

More Concerns About The Economy

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

The U.S. is still slowly recovering from the worst recession since the 1930s.

  • The economy has now grown (slowly) for four straight quarters.
  • The slow economy growth has made little impact on the unemployment rate.
  • New home construction, imports, and business investments all increased in the second quarter.
  • Consumer spending, which normally accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, didn’t rise as much as expected.

Facts and Figures

  • The current unemployment rate is 9.5%.
  • While imports increased by 28.8%, exports increased by 10.3%, creating a trade deficit.
  • Business investment increased by 17%, which was the largest increase since the beginning of 2006.
  • New home construction increased 27.9%.