As the automaker accelerates its shift to electrified models, BMW Group will launch four full-electric vehicles in the next two years.
“We fully engage in electric vehicles wherever it is meaningful to use battery-electric drive trains, and this is possible because the conditions are right,” said Oliver Zipse, BMW CEO.
The 7-Series upper-premium sedan and the X1 compact SUV will both get battery-powered versions next year. In 2023, electric versions of the BMW 5-Series luxury sedan and the Mini Countryman compact SUV will be available.
They plan to offer at least one BEV option to customers in most car segments by 2023, and they plan to release approximately 10 million fully electric vehicles on the market in ten years.
BMW’s plant in Dingolfing, Germany, will produce the fully electric 7 Series and 5 Series.
The factory also produces the iX, BMW’s flagship electric SUV, which will hit dealerships in the autumn, as well as the i4, BMW’s electric sedan, which is made in Munich.
The full-electric X1 and Mini Countryman, as well as the internal combustion engine versions — the X1 in Regensburg and the Mini Countryman in Leipzig — will be built in Germany.
The i3 compact hatchback and the iX3 SUV, both built in China, and the Mini Electric hatchback, built-in Mini’s factory in Oxford, England, are currently the BMW Group’s battery-powered cars.
Specs
The iX will be the first vehicle to use BMW’s new Operating System 8, which the company claims is optimized for 5G connectivity.
This system has a new generation of displays, controls and software and will be widely displayed on all other models after the iX.
BMW will unveil its first model on the Neue Klasse (New Class) platform in 2025, which is designed to be mostly electric but can also accommodate diesel and gasoline engines, including plug-in hybrids.
“Whether using battery power or hydrogen, our new vehicle architecture is uncompromisingly electric,” Zipse said.
Because of the platform’s high flexibility and scalability, more aerodynamic designs with various proportions and more spacious interiors are possible. Beginning in 2025, it will be used on new BMW and Mini models. Rolls-Royce will continue to use its own scalable aluminum spaceframe architecture.
BMW Future
The new class comes with new IT and software architecture, as well as newly developed electric powertrains and the production of batteries.
BMW expects full-electric vehicle sales to increase by more than 50% annually on average by 2025, more than ten times what they were in 2020.
By the end of 2025, the company expects to have delivered approximately 2 million full-electric vehicles to customers, accounting for at least 25% of total sales, rising to 10 million and accounting for at least half of global deliveries by 2030.
