BMW says enhancing emissions policies in cities and a larger range of products will help it to match its first three years of electrified automobile sales in 2017 alone.
The German brand was one of the first to commit to bespoke electric cars with its project i, which launched three years ago with the i3 and has because added the i8. It has also expanded to include iPerformance plug-in hybrid editions of the 3 series and 2 series active Tourer.
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In total, i and iPerformance products have sold 100,000 examples over the past three years. now BMW’s board member for sales and marketing, Ian Robertson, has revealed that the goal for 2017 is to match that total in just 12 months. “The pace of sales growth is accelerating to the point where we can objective for this,” he said. “This is proving how a lot of the technology from i is moving into the mainstream; iPerformance does that for us. I believe we will have the most extensive set of plug-in hybrid and electric cars of any company in the world.”
Helping the BMW push towards much more electrified sales will be a plug-in hybrid version of the forthcoming small Countryman and the 530e hybrid. Indeed, the powertrain that features in the small is the same basic unit as seen in the 2 series active Tourer – and it’s likely that this will be rolled out even more across BMW’s line-up, including on the X2 small crossover.
“We will continue to work on combustion engines,” said Robertson, “and mix them with iPerformance technology where suitable, creating new benchmarks in economy and CO2 emissions.”
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Robertson also said he does not believe that incoming us president Donald Trump’s views on climate change and hybrid car incentives would have a long-term impact on the growth of the sector. “Some suspect that the us is changing its direction but I doubt it, in the medium to long term,” he said.
The improved range of the battery on the recently updated i3 is also said to have improved its contribution to BMW’s electric sales push – along with some essential taxation changes in selected markets. Indeed, the i3 was the best-selling automobile outright in November in Norway, helped by a string of benefits awarded to pure-electric and hybrid vehicles. Further down the line, BMW has already committed to fully electric versions of the next X3 and an all-electric small by 2020.
Do you think BMW will hit its electric automobile sales targets? let us know in the comments…