BMW’s quarterly deliveries fall 6.3% as Europe’s carmakers open the Paris show

BMW’s deliveries fell 6.3% in the third quarter as its China sales slumped, Reuters reported¹. The same report said the group’s battery electric vehicle deliveries were up 7.2% in the third quarter, so the decline was concentrated outside its electric range¹. A separate account said the China slump drove Volkswagen to its sharpest quarterly fall in more than four years⁵.

The numbers landed as the Paris auto show opened. Volkswagen and Stellantis used this year’s show to signal growing confidence in their electric vehicles, adopting lessons from the Chinese rivals and partners now reshaping their home market, Reuters reported². Automotive News, reviewing the show, said one large electric SUV on display is already China’s third best-selling vehicle overall and is set to arrive in Europe next year as part of its brand’s regional push³.

Reuters’ account of the show presented the European response as a borrowing exercise rather than a defensive one, with Volkswagen and Stellantis taking lessons from the Chinese rivals and partners reshaping their home market². Automotive News described the electric SUV it singled out as already ranking third among all vehicles sold in China³.

Why it matters to investors

The two sets of figures point in opposite directions within the same companies: group deliveries down, electric deliveries up¹. That split is the question Europe’s incumbents are being valued on, and the Paris show was where they chose to argue that the electric side is working^2,3.

On the other side of the hall, Chinese carmakers made a stand at the show as import curbs loom, the South China Morning Post reported⁴. It quoted the view that such a development would favour Chinese electric vehicle leaders with the scale, balance sheets and European manufacturing plans already in motion⁴.

What to watch

The first thing to watch is whether the China weakness in BMW’s quarter shows up in other European manufacturers’ delivery data, as the Volkswagen report suggests it already has^1,5. The second is the shape of the import curbs the South China Morning Post describes as looming, and which carmakers have European plants in place to absorb them⁴.

Finally, watch whether the confidence Volkswagen and Stellantis projected in Paris is matched by electric volumes in the next quarter, rather than by model launches alone^2,3.

None of these reports gives BMW’s full-quarter sales total or breaks its China decline out as a figure, so the 6.3% group number and the 7.2% electric gain are the only measures available here¹.