The BMW Group announced its third quarter earnings before tax (EBT) margin came in at 10.6 percent, down 0.4 percent from the preceding quarter; however, the numbers were dragged down by its Motorrad motorcycle business.

The company’s 4-wheeler automotive segment – the segment were are interested in - recorded an EBT margin of 9.8 percent, up 0.6 percent from the previous quarter, and 0.9% higher than the same quarter last year. The increase in profit came despite a marginal 0.6 percent drop in sales from Q2 2023, indicating that the average selling price per car went up.

BMW credited the performance to strong sales in the upper segment and EV models. The latter made up 15.1 percent of its Q3 2023 global sales. The same Q3 period also saw the BMW Group’s EV sales hitting an all-time of 94,000 units. Cumulative sales from January to September came in at 247,000 EVs.

Sales in China—ground zero of the price wars that are hurting EV sales, compounded by a slowing Chinese economy—dropped 1.8 percent from the previous quarter, but strong growth in Europe (up 12.9 percent) and the USA (up 7.7 percent) compensated for it.

Year-to-date sales for the company’s namesake BMW cars (excluding MINI and Rolls-Royce), came in at 1,621,267, an increase of 5.7 percent from the same nine-month period last year.

The BMW Group’s nine-month EBT margin stood at 11.9 percent, exceeding the company’s target of 10 percent. This is despite the volatile business condition, and intense price wars in the electric vehicle (EV) segment.