As the pandemic moves into its third month, Germany’s largest corporations are beginning to reveal their long-term strategic plans for dealing with the crisis. There appears to be a growing realization that difficulties and complications doing business will remain, a reality which will force companies to make difficult decisions on how to proceed. The BMW group has revealed some of the scenarios for which it is preparing, all of which appear to be based in the belief that the virus and economic downturn it is causing will be a future for the rest of 2020.
CEO Oliver Zipse said that the situation remains serious in that market forecasts are difficult if not impossible to create. “We gradually ramp up our production depending on market-specific demand – but we monitor the development with the utmost attention in order to be able to react flexibly,” he said. “We’re managing our inventory very closely, because liquidity has absolute priority in this situation.” but he insisted that BMW continues to believe in a successful future and that it would be investing accordingly. This includes its move towards a electromobility and the eventual development of autonomous driving.
“We are electrifying our fleet as planned. Were making no compromises when it comes to highly automated driving.” He said the company would continue to invest in hydrogen fuel cell technology, insisting that the company’s business model had been put in question due to the pandemic. he also said that BMW intended to achieve CO2 fleet target for its European new vehicle registrations for 2020 which is roughly 20 percent below the 2019 target. “We remain committed to the agreed CO2 targets in the European Union and to the introduction of the Euro 6d emissions standard.”
