Dec. 6, 2017—BMW is targeting another ambitious hike in plug-in hybrid and battery car sales next year to defend its position in the electric vehicle (EV) shift as competitors like Volkswagen ready their own battery line-ups, according to The Independent.
The planned increase to about 150,000 cars sold would represent a 50 percent rise from this year, and a jump of about two-thirds from last year’s deliveries of green cars.
2016 was a year where 159,000 new EVs hit the road, and sales were up 38 percent over 2015’s numbers. Craig Van Batenburg, founder of the Automotive Career Development Center, said your shop can expect models from certain automakers that are leading that pack, such as Tesla, Chevrolet, Nissan, Ford and Toyota.
BMW, an early mover in the electric-car shift with 2013’s i3, is facing increasing competition from rivals like Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.
“We’ll definitely boost sales by a mid-double digit amount,” Klaus Froehlich, head of development at BMW, told reporters in Munich. “This is to stay ahead of the competition that’s starting to do its own rollout.”
Faced with tightening emissions regulation, BMW and other carmakers are spending record amounts developing a more attractive suite of electric cars to kickstart sluggish consumer sales.
The payoff remains uncertain, as high battery prices will squeeze returns compared to equivalent combustion engine vehicles—at least for a number of years.
Demand for the vehicles remains at a fraction of total car sales, with BMW’s target paling compared to total 2016 deliveries of 2.4 million vehicles.
