BMW is accelerating the rollout of new models after cutting its profit forecast, a move Bloomberg reported is intended to help the carmaker push back against a slump in China.
That pairing matters. A faster product cycle is not just a design choice when a major market weakens; it is an attempt to persuade buyers that waiting is unnecessary, and to keep dealers from sitting with aging inventory while demand softens. Bloomberg said the company is betting newer models can offset at least some of the pressure.
The immediate fact, though, is less flattering than the strategy meant to answer it. Bloomberg described the lower forecast as another profit warning, which suggests BMW is revising expectations more than once rather than absorbing a single bad quarter and moving on. The RSS item does not set out the size of the cut, the models involved or how quickly the rollout will be brought forward.
China is too large a market for a premium carmaker’s troubles there to stay local. When sales stumble in that segment, the strain can spread from factory planning to pricing power. BMW’s response, as far as Bloomberg’s report establishes, is to move faster with the one thing it can still control directly: what reaches showrooms, and when.
Gabriel Fenech 
Alex de Valletta