BMW expects car tariffs to fall from July in upbeat take on trade war

Written by Christophe Stez and Nick Carey

Frankfurt/London (Reuters) – BMW expects the American car tariff to decrease from July, based on its contacts with US officials, and a more optimistic evaluation of the commercial situation of many competitors, and leads the German luxury auto industry to confirm its expectations for 2025.

However, the company warned that the customs tariff imposed by US president Donald Trump will have a “marked” impact on the results of the second quarter. Executive officials rejected this during a call with analysts on Wednesday.

There is the largest BMW factory in the United States and is the largest source of cars in the country. The company said it was working in multi -level talks with American policy makers and that its arguments to alleviate the customs tariff were recognized.

“We note that things are moving, developing and negotiating them everywhere.” “Accordingly, our reading, based on all the networks we have at our disposal, is that we assume that something will change in July.”

CEO Oliver Zebisi said that the BMW operations in South Carolina, the home of its factory in Spartment, supported about 43,000 direct and indirect jobs and made an economic contribution of more than $ 26 billion a year.

Zipse said: “Knowing that we are the largest source, we are convinced that this will play a role in a suitable form in negotiations in the coming weeks,” Zipse said.

He said: “We can already see this will not be ignored, our big footprint.” Zipse said that BMW was deeply rooted in the United States market and was talking to all stakeholders to clarify her point of view.

Temporary tariff?

Many BMW competitors, including Mercedes -Benz, Ford and Stellantis, withdrew their expectations for 2025, and blamed the uncertainty caused by American trade policy.

BMW said that its forecast for 2025, which was provided in March and was written in all the definitions announced to this stage, is still in place. I expected profits before taxes equally with the year 2024 and a car operating margin of 5 to 7 %.

The company said that although it can only estimate the potential impact of the definitions, it expected that “some tariffs are increasing temporarily, with discounts from July 2025.”

BMW shares were 1.3 % higher at 1011 GMT, after the company recorded the profits of the first quarter before interest and tax of 2.02 billion euros ($ 2.3 billion) in the automotive unit, overcoming the average expectations for analysts of 1.85 billion euros in the LSEG survey.

With the help of strong orders and cost discipline, the unit’s operating margin was 6.9 %, a decrease from 8.8 % in the same period last year, but its victory over expectations by 6.3 % in the poll.

“In an environment whose peers were withdrawing the left, right and center guidance, BMW’s decision to commit to the guidance was well received by the market,” said Roser, investment manager of AJ Bell, in a note.

“Part of this depends on some of the customs tariffs that enter the back from July on the right – so investors will be able to rule from the summer, whether the current expectations are not credible or not.”

BMW included the warning in which the performance of its work may deviate in 2025 if the tariffs increase or remain in place for a longer period than expected, and declared the risk of potential supply bottlenecks for specific parts or raw materials.

($ 1 = 0.8803 euros)

(Participated in the reports of Christophe Stecz and Nick Carey.