A profit warning at Brilliance China Automotive, BMW’s Chinese business partner, has cast a further cloud over the outlook for premium car sales in the world’s largest car market.
Brilliance said first-half profit attributable to shareholders would be around 40 per cent lower than during the same period last year, which it blamed mostly on the performance of its 50-50 joint venture with BMW.
Brilliance attributed the expected profit decline to the “higher selling costs incurred . . . as a result of the slowdown in growth of the Chinese economy and the automotive industry” as well as costs related to the launch of new models and production facilities.