As BMW Group prepares to unleash a wave of electric vehicles, it has big ambitions for the powertrain.
The German automaker aims to sell 200,000 EVs globally this year — doubling the number it delivered last year, BMW sales chief Pieter Nota told Automotive News last week.
EV sales were a “big growth driver” for BMW in 2021, when the brand achieved a record of more than 2.2 million light-vehicle sales globally, Nota said.
“We are very confident about doubling [EV sales] again this year, when the iX and i4 will be fully available,” Nota said.
Faced with regulatory pressure from Europe and China, the auto industry is pivoting en masse to the electric powertrain.
BMW was an early entrant into the EV segment, having launched the i3 hatchback in 2013.
Since then, BMW — along with the rest of the industry — has been lapped by upstart Tesla, which delivered 936,172 electric sedans and crossovers globally last year.
But the industry is now responding with multibillion-dollar investments in EV fleets. Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, among other luxe brands, have committed to going all-electric by early next decade.
BMW is being more cautious as it waits to see how broadly EVs are adopted.
By mid-decade, it expects to deliver 2 million EVs, accounting for at least 25 percent of total sales. That number rises to 10 million EVs by 2030, or at least half of global deliveries.
