BMW announced Friday it aims to double its fully-electric vehicles (EV) sales this year. The German automaker is about to release new models to comply with cleaner energy and CO2 emissions targets, further advancing in the sustainability race several car companies are already in.
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BMW to advance its EV sales
After achieving an all-time sales high in the fourth quarter of 2020, the BMW Group is optimistic about the current year. Therefore, the German automaker announced Friday it is working to advance its fully-electric vehicle sales along the year. According to the company, it aims to double its fully-EV production to comply with CO2 emissions targets.
BMW also said it would include plug-in hybrids, aiming for a 50% increase in electrified vehicles’ sales versus 2020. According to 2020 data – released Tuesday-, the company sold close to 193,000 electrified vehicles – fully electric and plug-in hybrid.
In this regard, Tesla is leading the race for automakers. It delivered just under 500,000 vehicles, all fully electric, to customers in 2020.
BMW Group currently produces 13 electrified models and sells them in 74 markets. On Tuesday, the company said that its global EV sales rose 31.8% in 2020 and accounted for 15% of its sales in Europe. Through these sales, the automaker further advanced its European Union emission targets for last year.
By 2023, the Company aims to almost double its lineup of electrified vehicles to 25 models, with more than half fully electric.
In this sense, a growing number of countries are on the path of banning the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles starting in 2030. These decisions add pressure on carmakers to develop electric cars.
New sustainability strategies
With a new purpose in mind, the company is realigning its Sales and Marketing division in close collaboration with its retail partners.
“We are optimistic about 2021 and look forward to resuming our profitable growth, thanks to strong demand for our fresh product lineup,” said Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands, Sales. “We want to increase sales of our electrified vehicles by more than half in 2021. This underlines the importance of electromobility as a major growth driver for our company,”
Customers will benefit from the Group’s new sales by introducing the new iX and i4 models. BMW and MINI customers will take advantage of an expanding range of additional vehicle functions and upgrades.
The company will continue to expand its product offering: for example, through remote diagnostics. If the vehicle indicates an error message in the vehicle display, the customer will be able to call their BMW partner directly from the car. Once the customer agrees, vehicle data is transmitted over-the-air, and the service employee can perform remote diagnostics.
If the vehicle needs to be brought into the workshop, a service appointment can easily be arranged conveniently.
The Group believes that there can be “no premium without sustainability.” Therefore, the sales organization is promoting recycling and the use of secondary material at its facilities around the globe.