BMW to Launch 25 Electrified Vehicles by 2025—Including Rolls-Royce and M Models
The total includes 12 all-electric models.
BMW has become the latest automaker to announce some ambitious electrification plans. The company will launch 25 new electrified models by 2025, including 12 that will be all-electric. That's what BMW CEO Harald Krueger told a collection of journalists in Munich, adding that some of the 25 new models will come from Rolls-Royce and BMW's M performance division.
He also said the all-electric cars will offer ranges of up to 700 kilometers (435 miles), according to Reuters.
The first wave of that onslaught of electric cars and hybrids will break at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show next week. BMW will show the Mini Electric concept, which previews an all-electric Mini model due in 2019. The company will also unveil a "four-door, fully-electric vehicle between the i3 and i8," Krueger said.
In 2020, BMW will launch an all-electric version of the X3, making the crossover the first model outside BMW's "i" sub-brand to get a fully-electric powertrain. A convertible version of the i8 is also on the way, as is an all-electric sedan codenamed iNext, which is also expected to showcase autonomous driving tech.
BMW is already in the midst of ramping up production of electrified models. Last year, it said it would sell 100,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids this year. That's equal to the amount it sold in the previous three years combined.
But BMW needed to ramp things up in what is becoming an electrification arms race. Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover have announced that, by the end of the decade, every new car they sell will have a mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or all-electric powertrain. Daimler plans to launch 10 all-electric models by 2022, from both the Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands.
While electric cars still represent a relatively small portion of new car sales, automakers are planning for stricter future emissions standards that will compel them to become greener. Right now, BMW may be the luxury automaker best equipped to make that transition. It already sells several plug-in hybrid models, and has already been selling a mass-market electric car, the i3, for several years. That experience could prove valuable in the years to come.
