BMW Chief Financial Officer Walter Mertl said that the company has passed a critical point in sales of internal combustion vehicles, and now sales growth mainly comes from electric vehicles.
He added that, in his opinion, this tipping point was passed last year and “currently sales of internal combustion vehicles will continue to be flat and then decline slightly.”
It is said that BMW achieved its goal of pure electric vehicle sales accounting for 15% last year and plans to increase this proportion to 33% by 2026.
But Myrtle also said BMW won’t have the same profit margins on combustion engine cars and pure electric vehicles until at least 2026, noting that it would be more expensive to introduce new battery technology for later models.
According to official data from the BMW Group: A total of 2,555,341 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles were delivered globally in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%, setting a new sales high in the company’s history. BMW, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad brands also set new sales records in 2023.
It is noted that the BMW Group’s global sales of pure electric models increased significantly last year, reaching 376,183 units, a year-on-year increase of 74.4%. In the fourth quarter, the BMW Group delivered 129,316 fully electric vehicles to customers, a year-on-year increase of 47.7%.
The BMW Group is confident in the growth of pure electric vehicle sales in 2024. The company currently has 18 pure electric models covering all major market segments. One in every five new cars delivered this year will be a pure electric model by 2025. , the proportion will increase to one quarter, and BMW predicts that sales of pure electric vehicles will exceed 500,000 units in 2024.
In 2023, the BMW brand delivered a total of 2,253,835 vehicles globally, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%, and sales reached a record high. A total of 330,596 pure electric vehicles of the BMW brand were delivered in 2023, an increase of 92.2%. In the fourth quarter, BMW brand pure electric vehicle deliveries reached 113,458 units, an increase of 55.4%.
BMW also announced on January 10 that its century-old Munich factory will undergo an upgrade and will only produce pure electric vehicles from the end of 2027.
The factory dates back to 1922. BMW said the factory is the “heart” of BMW, is innovative and adaptable, and will be completely renovated while producing about 1,000 vehicles per day. To this end, BMW will invest 650 million euros (Note: currently about 5.096 billion CNY) to complete the transformation of the plant and produce the new Neue Klasse sedan in 2026.
