Sept. 8, 2017—BMW said Thursday that 12 all-electric cars and 13 hybrids will be on the market by 2025, according to the L.A. Times.
BMW joins Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Ford and other carmakers that have announced big plans to sell a wide variety of electric and hybrid cars over the next several years.
Jaguar Land Rover, also on Thursday, said its entire fleet of new vehicles will be electric or hybrid-electric starting in 2020.
The latest announcements come as auto companies, especially in Europe, position themselves to get ahead of government mandates requiring low- and zero-emission cars and trucks to cut pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
France and England are considering a ban on the sale of diesel and gasoline cars by 2040. China is encouraging electric cars for reasons both environmental and economic — it’s attempting to develop an electric-car export industry. India’s government said it intends to ban all internal combustion engines by 2030.
BMW Chief Executive Harald Kruger, in his announcement Thursday, argued against the mandates, which may bar gas or diesel engines from parts of cities at rush hour. “Customer demand cannot be forced,” he said. “We do not advocate driving bans and quotas.”
