BMW's Next-Generation 7 Series Hits Production Lines as Stock Struggles With 40% Year-to-Date Slide

BMW starts production of redesigned 7 Series with New Class platform technology, but shares hit 52-week low amid profit warning and China sales plunge.

The Bavarian automaker fired the starting gun on its most ambitious model refresh to date Monday, beginning series production of the redesigned 7 Series at its Dingolfing plant in Lower Bavaria. BMW describes the overhaul as the most extensive in company history, marking the first time that core technologies from its forthcoming "New Class" platform have been integrated into an existing model line.

At the heart of the new 7 Series sits a centralized software and electronics architecture, paired with the Panoramic iDrive interface — a cockpit concept destined to become standard across the entire BMW lineup. On the powertrain front, the move to sixth-generation cylindrical cells is a first for the group. The fully electric i7 60 xDrive variant delivers a WLTP-certified range of up to 727 kilometres, while a 10-to-80-percent charging stop now takes roughly 28 minutes. Management plans to roll out New Class technology across 40 models by the end of 2027, with the Dingolfing launch acting as the bridgehead.

Yet the engineering milestone stands in stark contrast to the mood on the trading floor. BMW shares slipped 0.51 percent on the day to €57.98, leaving them just 1.61 percent above the 52-week low of €57.06 touched on June 30. The stock has now shed 39.55 percent since the start of the year, and at 40.78 percent below the December 2025 high of €97.90, the bear market shows no sign of loosening its grip. The Relative Strength Index sits at 30.3, signalling deeply oversold territory, while annualised 30-day volatility of 31.44 percent underscores persistent jitters.

June's profit warning — in which the board slashed its 2026 EBIT margin forecast for the automotive segment to a corridor of just 1 to 3 percent — ignited the latest leg of the sell-off. The technical picture remains bleak: the stock trades well below both its 50-day moving average of €68.76 and its 200-day moving average of €81.92, and also fails to hold the 100-day line at €75.52.

A Tale of Two Hemispheres

BMW's global delivery figures for the first half of the year reveal a market split along geographical fault lines. Total shipments reached 1,156,742 vehicles, down 4.2 percent year-on-year. China, the group's largest single market, acted as the primary drag, with deliveries plunging 20.4 percent to 261,773 units. Analysts blame intensifying competition from local electric-vehicle makers and tepid consumer confidence in the world's biggest auto market.

Europe and the US painted a far brighter picture. European registrations jumped 5.4 percent to 496,651 vehicles, while the US market posted a 3.9 percent gain to 200,661 units. The core BMW brand lost 6.2 percent globally, but the Mini division bucked the trend with an 11.7 percent surge to 149,538 cars, fuelled by strong demand for its latest electric models.

The Chinese headwind is part of a broader structural shift in the EV landscape. A study by Transport & Environment, based on GlobalData, shows that the share of Chinese-built electric cars from Western brands sold in the EU tumbled from 38 percent in 2024 to just 23 percent in the first quarter of 2026, driven largely by EU tariffs on Chinese-made EVs that took effect in autumn 2024. BMW, Dacia, Volvo, Smart and Tesla all saw their Chinese import proportions shrink — Tesla's fell from 23 percent to 19 percent. Chinese rivals BYD and Geely, meanwhile, managed to expand their European imports despite the duties, while Saic's volumes slumped.

Shifting Gears on Production Geography

Tariffs are forcing Western automakers to rethink their manufacturing footprints, pushing production back into Europe even as Chinese manufacturers race to build their own plants on the continent. According to the study, ten new production sites owned by Chinese brands have been built or announced in Europe since 2023.

Within Europe, the centre of gravity is tilting toward lower-cost locations. BMW has invested roughly €2 billion in its Hungarian plant at Debrecen, dedicated to EV assembly. Mercedes-Benz is ploughing more than €1 billion into its Kecskemét site, where production costs are reported to be around 70 percent below German levels. The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) puts the share of German-brand cars built abroad at 70 percent, with about 300,000 vehicles manufactured in Hungary alone in 2025.

BMW's management is betting that a combination of cost-cutting — including plans to eliminate roughly 7,700 positions — and the accelerated rollout of New Class technology will stabilise the operating margin over the medium term. Investors will get a fuller picture on July 30, when the group publishes its complete half-year report. The first concrete sales data for the revamped 7 Series will only emerge in the second half of the year, providing an early test of whether the technology can translate into customer demand — and eventually reverse the stock's slide.