BMW banks on iPerformance EV, hybrid future sales

In the last three years BMW has sold more than 100,000 purely electric-powered cars and plug-in hybrids globally.

The BMW i3 alone has reached a figure of more than 60,000 units, making it the most successful electric vehicle in the premium compact segment.

The BMW i8 ranks first among electrified sports cars, with more than 10,000 delivered since the middle of 2014. Additionally, there are the around 30,000 plug-in hybrids sold to date; known today under the label BMW iPerformance.

Chief executive at BMW, Harald Kruger, notes: “When it comes to electric drivetrains, we’ve already successfully managed to put this technology transfer on the road. The next technological advance we will address is automated driving, where the BMW iNEXT will set a new benchmark.”

Kruger recently stated that all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids from the company and Mini brands will account for 15-25% of sales in the next decade.

To put it in context, that’s potentially more than half a million cars based on 2015 sales of 2.25 million vehicles, and compares with a 2% share of deliveries now.

“With more range and more infrastructure being available, you’ll see more electrified vehicles,” Krueger told Bloomberg. “We need some time for this movement and development, but it’s nothing that’ll go away.”

More to come in iPerformance range

All in all, the BMW Group now offers seven models that either run on electric power alone, like the BMW i3, or are plug-in hybrids, combining a combustion engine and an electric motor.

Other models will follow in the years to come, including a Mini Countryman plug-in hybrid in 2017.

Additionally, a new variant of the BMW i8 sports car with plug-in hybrid drive will come out in 2018 – an open-top BMW i8 Roadster.

Looking further ahead, the portfolio will be extended to include a purely electric-powered Mini in 2019 and a purely electric-powered BMW X3 in 2020.

At the start of the next decade, another, larger BMW i model with electric drive is due to appear, the BMW iNEXT.