The Coronavirus Pandemic has impacted the world in ways not imagined. Six months in and the effects of Covid-19 linger. And you don’t have to be infected to be affected. BMW just posted a quarterly loss for the first time since 2009. Between April and June 2020 BMW suffered a loss of $787 million. In the same period last year BMW recorded a $2.7 billion profit. That’s down 10 percent for the quarter. Deliveries of new cars fell by 25 percent. The losses come at a time when BMW is investing heavily in electric cars.

Despite a difficult trading quarter, BMW remains optimistic of registering an end of year operating profit. The German automotive industry has been heavily impacted by the Coronavirus. The Volkswagen group lost 2.4 billion euros in the same trading period. Daimler Benz has fared better but intends to cut overheads through redundancies, by at least 20,000 job losses. A second wave Covid-19 is starting in Europe, Germany not excluded.

BMW expects second-quarter trading to be difficult. There is hope for recovery elsewhere. BMW China is returning to growth after being savaged by Covid-19 and ultra-strict lockdown measures. The iX3 EV SUV will be made in China, it will be retail first in the region before being sold to overseas territories.

Nevertheless, despite the quarterly loss, BMW expects sales of electric and hybrid cars to rise in all regions and expects an upward trend of growth from the EV/Hybrid sector for the remainder of the year. However, this pandemic is a long way from being contained and it remains to be seen if BMW can return to that end of year profit.