The new electrified cars by BMW AG are expected to make big sales in the years to come due to its new technology that is to compete with Mercedes-Benz and Tesla.
In 10 years to come, Harald Krueger, Chief Executive of BMW said during an interview that all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids from the company and Mini brands will be accounting for 15-25 percent sales. What this signifies is that the sales will be up to 500, 000 cars according to the 2.25 million cars sold in 2015 which is compared with the present delivery of 2 percent share.
Krueger said during a visit he made to Los Angeles that the electrified vehicles will be more rampant when more infrastructure and range are made readily available, adding that they are waiting for it to come to pass.
Manufacturers of the automobile are being put under pressure to make cars that are battery-powered more available so that emissions regulation can be tightened and also for the investment made on the technology to start yielding good dividend. Opel, Volkswagen AG, and Renault SA are some of the European auto manufacturers that are coming up with cars that can run for hundreds of miles on just a single charge.
BMW was among the first manufacturers in Europe to come up with an electric vehicle that stands alone with plug-in hybrid and also an all-electric car. In the previous month, the company said that it was working on a model that will be battery-powered intended for urban Mini brand plus the BMW X3 version that will be all- electric utility vehicle that will be made readily available to the public soon enough.
BMW slowed in their effort after it hit a major milestone in coming up with a first-mover crown which faced some challenges due to the driving range that was limited and its high cost which scared buyers away. the electric city car i3 which entered the market in the year 2013 went for $42, 400. The company also made available different other 7 models that had the hybrid technology that went for as high as $89, 100 among others.
The competition, however, started dropping as cost drops and ranges are improved which invited competition. Mercedes will by the end of this year surpass BMW with its prediction that its electric vehicles will take over up to 25% of the delivered it will make by 2025. Their plan to achieve this is by producing not less than 10 all-electric vehicles with some SUVs that will be standalone.
European Automobile producers are rising to the threat Tesla posed that revealed that cars can be cool and eco-friendly at the same time.
Tesla had plans for producing electric models with combustion engines that will be made flexible to answer to the demand it receives.
Krueger said that electric cars are the way forward for a sustainable solution to mobility issues while noting that combustion engines will still be around for some years to come.
