BMW says it reached an EV tipping point in 2023
Specter of declining ICE sales
BMW Group’s Chief Financial Officer, Walter Mertl, is less than a year into his new job, but is already making huge pronouncements about the future of the German luxury and sports carmaker.
This week Mertl told reporters that 2023 was a tipping point for internal combustion engines at BMW and that “future volume growth will primarily come from electric vehicles.”
The Munich based group, which also owns the Mini and Rolls Royce marques, reported record vehicle sales in 2023 of over 2.5 million units, up 6.5% from the year before.
Electrified vehicles made up 15% of total shipments with 376,183 delivered last year, a jump of 74% year-over-year. Full electric vehicles made up the bulk of that number at 330,596 with the i4 and the iX1 models leading the charge.
Notably, a record number of drivers got behind the wheel of a new Rolls in 2023, boosted by strong sales of the marque’s first all-electric model, the Spectre, which started deliveries during the fourth quarter and has an order book stretching into 2025 despite a sticker price of $423,000.
There’s a neue klasse in town
In 2025, BMW is shifting to new EV underpinnings and will start rolling out six new models as part of a design project dubbed Neue Klasse, which it hopes will lift full electric car sales to a third of its total by the following year. BMW is also presently among the top five EV motor manufacturers in the world.
Adamas data shows that from January through November 2023, the BMW brand was ranked number four globally by battery capacity deployed with 25.2 GWh contained in the Beemers sold during the period. BMW came in way ahead of its traditional rival in the executive car bracket – Audi – which managed to roll out 13.7 GWh over the same period.
In November 2023, the sporty BMW i4 cracked into the top 10 models worldwide by battery capacity deployed thanks in part to its brawny 83.9 kWh battery pack.
In its segment, the i4, which is being marketed as a four-door coupé, scores second place with a 9% share of the global market by battery capacity deployed in November of last year.
BMW launched the i5 in October of last year and, according to the company, it now boasts a fully electric vehicle in each of its main segments.
Adamas take:
In the face of Europe’s slowing EV market growth last year, BMW emerged as a shining star, capturing market share globally across its key vehicle segments. Among legacy OEMs in Europe and North America, BMW’s electrification strategy appears to be resonating better with EV buyers than that of incumbents. With project Neue Klasse on the horizon, BMW is poised to further strengthen its hand in 2024/25.
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