Last week BMW released its earnings report for 2019 along with its gameplan for the upcoming year.
BMW is moving head forward into electrification and proclaims that they are devoted to meeting any and all emissions requirements set forth. The German automaker reiterates its plan of having more than one million fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2021. By 2021 they will have five fully electric cars in series production: BMW i3, MINI Cooper SE, BMW iX3, BMW iNEXT, and BMW i4.
Two years later in 2023 however, the brand will have 25 electrified cars with over half of them being fully electric. The key once again to this large growth in models according to BMW, is the flexibility of their architecture. BMW is still set on providing customers with the “power of choice” when it comes to powertrain options and as such, will try to have each one of their models be able to be gasoline-powered, plug-in, or fully electric.
Obviously the research and development along with upfront costs of retrofitting factories is a large chunk of money, so BMW is trying to concurrently trim off some of its fat and be more efficient.
Nicolas Peter, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Finance stated:
“Upfront expenditure in the technologies of the future such as e-mobility needs to be financed. That is why we continue to work with strong determination on those matters that lie in our own hands and maintain a clear focus on performance and efficiency. By optimising our core business, we are systematically ensuring greater financial strength and performance. We are growing in the right segments, and therefore generating the funds needed to ramp up our sustainable mobility strategy.”
One of the big areas of downsizing is the amount of different engine variants BMW will create.
On the product side, up to 50 per cent of traditional drivetrain variants will be eliminated from 2021 onwards in the transition to creating enhanced, intelligent vehicle architectures – in favour of additional electrified drivetrains.
Note that this is just different engines, this does not mean that BMW will create 50% less gasoline-powered cars. If you look at the engines of current BMWs notice that about 80% of the lineup uses the same 3-4 engines. This will most likely apply to only the largest engines that BMW produces such as their V8s and up.
Regardless it is still the start of BMW ending internal combustion engine production. BMW has been outspoken about keeping the gasoline engine alive for as long as possible, so I do not expect them to wipe out all of their engines any time soon, but it is a start.
What do you guys think of the news? Let us know down in the comments below.
