Munich. The BMW Group, a pioneer in electromobility,
is rapidly expanding its range of electrified vehicles. Within two
years, the company will offer five fully-electric series-production
vehicles: Alongside the BMW i3, with more than 150,000 units built to
date, this year will see the start of production of the fully electric
MINI at Plant Oxford (UK). This will be followed in 2020 by the
fully-electric BMW iX3 from Shenyang (China) and in 2021 by the BMW
iNEXT, which will be produced in Dingolfing (Germany), and the BMW i4
from Plant Munich (Germany).
Including its extensive fleet of plug-in hybrids, the BMW Group has
the widest range of electrified vehicles on the market. Updated,
extended electric-range plug-in-hybrid versions of the BMW 3 Series,
BMW 7 Series and BMW X5 alongside the new BMW X3 plug-in hybrid were
presented at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. A few weeks later, the
updated plug-in hybrid variant of the BMW X1 Long Wheelbase Version,
which is produced locally for the Chinese market, was shown at the
Shanghai Auto Show. This diversity of electrified drive concepts
underlines the importance of technology openness on the road to
sustainable mobility.
“Our market is global. We don’t want to tell people what to do; we
want our products to inspire people all over the world. Our flexible
electrification strategy underlines this approach and enables us to
serve very different regions of the world, as the introduction of
alternative drive trains is proceeding at a different pace in
different markets,” emphasised Harald Krüger,
Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, at the company’s Annual
General Meeting in Munich on Thursday. “Technological openness is key
to being prepared for the regulatory requirements and customer wishes
in different markets,” he added.
The BMW Group will launch more than ten fully-electric and plug-in
hybrid models onto the market by the end of next year – either
completely new or updated models with the fourth-generation (“Gen 4”)
of the company’s electrified drive train technology. By 2025, the BMW
Group will offer at least 25 electrified models – half of them fully-electric.
“Technology openness also means continuing to improve our already
efficient combustion engines. We are systematically driving e-mobility
with both fully-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, and investing
in new technologies such as fuel cells. We believe it would be a
mistake to rely on just one technology, as that could jeopardise
prosperity in Germany,” said Krüger.
The BMW Group has always promoted emission-free mobility and
advocated for its effective support. However the demands of future
mobility will be multifaceted. There will not be just one single
solution that meets the mobility needs of all customers around the
world. People living in rural areas, for instance, need different
technological solutions for mobility than those in cities.
The effective role plug-in hybrids can play in achieving
emission-free mobility in cities is demonstrated by the example from
the Netherlands: In conjunction with the City of Rotterdam, the BMW
Group has implemented a pilot project to increase the use of electric
power by plug-in hybrids in the city. Preliminary results indicate
that participating customers drove over 90% in electric mode in a
specially defined “e-zone” within Rotterdam.
This underlines the fact that plug-in hybrids are both an important
building block in ramping up e-mobility and a long-term requirement
for customers who depend on flexibility. For this reason, the BMW
Group has a strong interest in influencing user behaviour to increase
the percentage of miles driven with electric power.
Krüger added: “We all have a responsibility to ensure a world worth
living in for our children. We are bringing the right products to
achieve this onto the market and have set ourselves the goal of
purchasing electricity for our locations worldwide exclusively from
renewable sources from 2020 on. By 2020, we also aim to have reduced
the CO2 emissions of our new vehicle fleet in Europe by at least 50
percent compared to 1995 levels. By the end of 2018, we had already
achieved 42 percent.”
If you have any questions, please contact:
Corporate Communications
Max-Morten Borgmann, Corporate Communications
Telephone:
+49 89 382-24118, Max-Morten.Borgmann@bmwgroup.com
Mathias Schmidt, Head of Corporate and Culture Communications
Telephone:
+49 89 382-24544, Mathias.M.Schmidt@bmw.de
Media website: www.press.bmwgroup.com
E-mail: presse@bmwgroup.com
The BMW Group
With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW
Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and
motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services.
The BMW Group production network comprises 30 production and assembly
facilities in 14 countries; the company has a global sales network in
more than 140 countries.
In 2018, the BMW Group sold over 2,490,000 passenger vehicles and
more than 165,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the
financial year 2018 was € 9.815 billion on revenues amounting to
€ 97.480 billion. As of 31 December 2018, the BMW Group had a
workforce of 134,682 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term
thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established
ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain,
comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to
conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.
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