BMW posts 2nd straight loss as deliveries drop

Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG, the world's biggest maker of luxury vehicles, posted its second consecutive quarterly loss as the global recession trampled demand for upscale sedans and sport-utility vehicles.

The first-quarter net loss was 152 million euros ($202 million), or 23 cents a share, compared with profit of 487 million euros, or 74 cents, a year earlier, Munich-based BMW said today in an e-mailed statement. The deficit was narrower than the median 268 million-euro estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

BMW lost 963 million euros in the last three months of 2008, its first deficit since at least 2001. The company is trimming spending and eliminating jobs as the global recession plunges the auto industry into its worst crisis in decades. Industrywide car sales in the U.S., BMW's largest market, fell 34 percent in April, the 18th monthly decline in a row.

The manufacturer, which also makes Mini and Rolls-Royce models, curtailed production by 78,000 vehicles this year after reducing hours for 26,000 workers at plants in the German towns of Regensburg and Dingolfing. About 8,000 employees returned to normal hours at Regensburg this month, where BMW assembles the 3-Series sedan and Z4 roadster.

The company began cooperating on parts purchases in March with Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz division, which ranks second to BMW in making luxury cars, and said at the time more "major" joint projects are possible as a way of cutting costs.

BMW reiterated its forecasts that sales will drop in 2009. The company, which also makes motorcycles, said it can't make a reliable earnings prediction because of questions about the depth of the recession. BMW said on April 7 that its first- quarter deliveries declined 21 percent.

Moody's Investors Service cut BMW's long-term debt rating on April 3 by one level to A3, the fourth-lowest investment grade. The credit-reporting company kept the carmaker on watch for another potential downgrade, citing a "severe and rapid downturn in demand for BMW's vehicles."