BMW has been criticized for being late to the EV celebration so far as creating a devoted electrical automobile structure. That gained’t occur till 2025 when the second-generation iX3 will go into manufacturing on the bespoke Neue Klasse platform. In the meantime, the posh automaker has a wealthy mixture of EVs that share their bones with vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel engines. Is that this technique a mistake? The agency’s head of R&D claims they’ve made the precise name.

Talking with Yahoo Finance throughout the BMW Group Annual press convention, Frank Weber argued {that a} various powertrain lineup for a mannequin helps a buyer select no matter’s finest for his or her wants. Providing a 7 Collection with gasoline, diesel, plug-in hybrid, and electrical drivetrains permits BMW to cowl all of the bases and produce the car on the identical meeting line, due to this fact maximizing effectivity.

“When I’m visiting our dealerships, I’m asking them, ‘Is it a bonus or a drawback that we’re providing the identical automobiles with all totally different [gas-powered and electric] powertrains?’ And for us, it’s actually key that you just discover the precise resolution for the person particular person, and I believe what has helped … [is] that we’re very clear in our construction [in] that we are saying a 7 Collection is a 7 Collection, a 5 Collection is a 5 Collection.”

Weber has the gross sales numbers to again up his assertion. In 2023, deliveries of EVs rose by almost 75% to greater than 375,000 items or roughly 15% of whole gross sales. Demand for zero-emission fashions stays sturdy in 2024 as BMW has posted “vital double-digit proportion” progress in January and February 2024 in comparison with the primary two months of final yr.

Though BMW intends to launch six Neue Klasse-based EVs by 2028, that doesn’t imply it’s completed with introducing electrical vehicles that make the most of the identical underpinnings as ICE fashions. We’re listening to there are plans for next-generation X5 and X6 fashions with combustion engines and electrical drivetrains (assume iX5 and iX6) – all on the identical CLAR structure.

BMW has introduced it can make a minimum of six EVs in Spartanburg by the top of the last decade. It hasn’t specified which platforms these fashions are going to make use of – both Neue Klasse or CLAR. It might be a mixture of the 2 architectures contemplating all SUVs constructed there as we speak experience on CLAR, from the X3 and X4 to the X7 and XM.

Inevitably, EVs will steadily transfer to Neue Klasse since CLAR and different platforms will probably be finally retired within the distant future. There are already studies the UKL2-based iX1 will probably be outdated by an NK-based mannequin.

Supply: Yahoo Finance