Between July and September, net profit at the group shrank 1.8% year-on-year to 1.8 billion euros ($2.1bn), well short of the 1.95 billion euros predicted by analysts.
Operating, or underlying profit also fell 3.2%, to 2.3 billion euros, on the back of revenues up 0.3% at 23.4 billion.
Meanwhile, unit sales of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce cars increased 1.2%, to 590,415.
The group is "investing substantially in tomorrow's mobility," chief executive Harald Kruger said in a statement.
Like other German carmakers, the Munich-based firm is scrambling to catch up with competitors in high-tech fields like electric cars and autonomous driving.
The group expects to sell more than 100,000 hybrid or full-electric vehicles in 2017.
Meanwhile, Kruger highlighted 400-million-euro spending on expanding BMW's research centre to 5,000 employees and the opening of an autonomous driving centre with partners including chipmaker Intel.
Looking ahead to the full year, BMW upped its forecast to a "solid" increase in underlying profit from 2016's figure, where previously it had called for a "slight" boost.
But the group will continue to spend heavily on research and new models in the fourth quarter, while it warned that a "politically volatile environment" worldwide could affect sales.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
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