BMW may receive help from the state

BMW is also touched by the crisis which Chrysler/General Motor have suffered, because the general demand went down. Indeed, dealers don't sell all of their cars, which is repercuted to the financal system of BMW. No more incomes. As a financal aid, the State, concerned with the unemployment rate which could rise because of the lack of sales, decided to give handouts to the company, so that it could boost their financal sector and help it to find solutions to solve the problem, and also to German buyers, who remplace their old car (nine years or more) by a new one. 

For the anecdote, the demand has slowed down because of the high price of oil (which had been and we hope it won't go up to high...), the high oil consommation of American cars. This could be applied to German cars, but we can argue in contrary of it. In fact, the problem is that now car is seen as a machine which pollutes. That's true but if we take only the pleasure to drive, it takes an other point of view. BMW's cars are high rank cars with a great mecanic, interior and very well constructed (this is applied to almost all German companies, especially for Mercedes and Porsche whose cars are only built in Germany). This is BMW's goal : to target and satisfy costumers who have the means to buy their cars and who like good mecanic. If the state for example wants to restrain the number of these cars under the pretex that it polutes, these consumers would disagree. This is what is happening in Russia : the government stopped exporting German cars to relaunch Lada, the only Russian car company. But Lada doesn't do good mecanic and might pollute much more than a BMW because it is bad quality, and also, all consummers who already have a BMW would automatically refuse to buy Lada.  So, to stop high cars to be built would resume to lay off lots of high qualified workers, which would make the "croissance" going down, and also the loss of a "savoir-faire" which is special to German companies.