BMW’s Electric SUV Outshines as Shares Slump: iX3 Orders Top 50,000 While Stock Hits Fresh Lows

BMW's iX3 EV orders hit 50,000 in Europe, prompting price hike to €70,900; shares drop 22% YTD amid dual-class share conversion and CEO change.

BMW’s new iX3 electric SUV has racked up more than 50,000 orders in Europe, with every second X3 now ordered as a battery-electric version. The surge was so strong that the company has practically allocated its entire 2026 production at the Debrecen plant before a single unit reaches customers — prompting a €2,000 price increase to €70,900 for the iX3 50 xDrive. Yet the upbeat mood on the factory floor is starkly at odds with the stock market, where the shares have been in a near-consistent slide.

The Munich-based carmaker’s common stock closed Friday at €74.78, shedding 2.43% on the day and 8.56% over the prior seven sessions. Year-to-date, the equity has lost roughly 22%, trading just 4.59% above its 52-week low. Part of the recent weakness stems from the dividend ex-date on May 14, when the shares began trading without entitlement to the €4.40-per-share payout — up slightly from €4.30 a year ago. But the broader trend reflects deeper investor unease.

A major structural shift is also underway. At this month’s annual meeting, shareholders voted overwhelmingly to dissolve BMW’s long-standing dual-class share structure. Non-voting preference shares will be converted into ordinary voting shares, with the change pending registration of the amended statutes. Finance chief Walter Mertl said the move could increase BMW’s weighting in relevant indices, which track common shares exclusively. Starting with fiscal 2026, all shares will carry equal profit distribution rights, eliminating a historical quirk that made the stock harder to compare with peers.

The vote passed with 99.99% approval from common shareholders and 99.77% from preference holders. The dividend itself is scheduled for payout on May 19, after which the market’s attention will shift to the capital markets day planned for late September.

That event will come under new leadership. Oliver Zipse handed over the CEO reins to Milan Nedeljkovi? on May 14, and his contract runs through 2031. Michael Nikolaides steps into the role of strategy chief, rounding out a refreshed management team that must juggle model cycles, electrification costs, and margin discipline. For now, the group is sticking with its full-year guidance of a moderate decline in pre-tax profit and deliveries roughly on par with 2025.

The first-quarter numbers presented a mixed picture. Revenue in the automotive segment slipped 7.0% to €27.2 billion, and group net profit fell 23.1% to €1.7 billion. Yet BMW’s automotive EBIT margin surprised on the upside at 5.0%, comfortably beating analyst forecasts of 4.3% to 4.7% and landing smack in the middle of the full-year target corridor of 4% to 6%. That suggests cost controls are holding up, even as tariff costs have already eaten up €2.1 billion in the first few months of 2026.

The pressure from Washington is expected to ease slightly next year: BMW now estimates the impact on its EBIT margin at 1.25 percentage points, down from the originally pencilled 1.5 points. Still, Bernstein has warned that if the US pushes tariffs back to 25%, BMW, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz could face a combined €2.6 billion in extra charges for the year.

The biggest wild card remains China. Sales there fell for the seventh month running in April, and BMW delivered 144,072 vehicles in the first quarter — a 10% drop year-on-year. Management is banking on a gradual recovery, but analysts are watching for any sign of a deeper slump.

On the bright side, BMW has promised automotive free cash flow will rebound above €4.5 billion in 2026, a metric the market treats as a key test of operational resilience. UBS, after a recent investor meeting with CFO Mertl, said the company remains on track to meet its current-year goals and pointed to the September capital markets day as a potential catalyst for more detail on strategy.

For now, BMW’s new chief takes the wheel with orders overflowing for the iX3, but the stock price tells a far more cautious story — one shaped by tariffs, China headwinds, and the relentless math of margin compression.