Price increase at BMW
BMW of North America LLC will increase U.S. vehicle prices by 2.1% all over its line-up of BMW-branded vehicles for the 2009 model year.
BMW announced that the increase in the costs of raw material has led to the increase in the price. The 2009 vehicles will be launched for dealerships in October.
This increase in price on U.S. vehicles is company’s second rise since June. It had increased the prices on its 2008 line-up by 1%.
Automakers and suppliers are trying to cope with the price increases on raw materials such as steel. BMW also has to cope with a weak dollar. This has made it more expensive to build vehicles in Europe and sell them in the United States.
In the United States, BMW division sales slipped by 8.0% in the first seven months of the year.
BMW’s profit this year is anticipated to be down about 40 percent from 2007.