The full consolidation of the China business at the Munich carmaker BMW led to significant sales and profit growth in the first quarter.
Added to this was the continuing high demand for premium vehicles, which is driving up the prices for new and used vehicles.
"The strength and resilience of the BMW Group are particularly evident in a challenging environment," said BMW CEO Oliver Zipse.
The stock climbed 2.3 percent in pre-market trading at Lang & Schwarz.
Sales increased in the first quarter by 16.3 percent to 31.1 billion euros, operating profit increased by 12.1 percent to 3.4 billion euros.
Consolidated net income even jumped to 10.2 billion euros, more than three times as high as a year ago.
The profit margin in the auto business was 8.9 percent.
Without the effects of the BBA full consolidation, it was even 13.2 percent, said CFO Nicolas Peter: "This shows the strength of our core segment in the first quarter - especially in view of the difficult general conditions."
First easing of the chip crisis in the second half of the year at the earliest
On the one hand, the ongoing chip crisis plays a role, because of which BMW recently had to reduce production at the Regensburg plant.
The company is currently not expecting the situation to ease up until the second half of 2022 at the earliest.
Added to this are the rising prices on the energy and raw materials markets.
"The war in Ukraine and the increase in the inflation rate could exacerbate this development." The company is sticking to the forecast for the time being.
“Regardless of this, the situation remains uncertain.
This makes it much more difficult to make an accurate forecast for 2022.”
In February, BMW received the green light for the long-planned takeover of the majority in the Chinese joint venture with Brilliance.
This results in a book profit in the billions.
After the takeover, BMW can fully consolidate the figures in China.