If BMW's guilt is confirmed, the company could face a large fine running into millions.
American financial regulators suspect BMW of artificially inflating sales figures. There is a version that the Bavarian concern forced dealers to buy additional cars, which then went into reserve fleets. This approach allowed the automaker to increase the volume of sold cars, improve its reporting, and create a more favorable impression among investors about the state of the market.
It is possible that in this way BMW was trying to finish the year with leadership in the US premium segment. The Bavarian brand shows results comparable to Daimler AG, and may well, for the first time in four years, take first place in the number of premium cars sold at the end of the calendar year.
BMW dealers, who wished to remain unnamed, complain about the manufacturer: increasing the fleet of test and replacement cars reduces sales profitability. Selling cars from the reserve fleet is less profitable for showrooms, because discounts have to be made on such vehicles. A BMW representative told The Wall Street Journal that the company is aware of the start of the investigation and intends to cooperate with American authorities.
For the Bavarian concern, accusations of falsifying sales statistics in the US are not something new. Three years ago, the head of BMW's North American division already spoke of "strong pressure" from the head office and of forcing dealers to inflate sales volumes.
