news

BMW won’t railroad customers into electric cars, promises to give buyers power of choice

One of the electric car pioneers in the luxury class says it won’t force electric cars onto customers, despite the rollout of a record number of models.


BMW says petrol and diesel cars will continue to be a part of its line-up and it does not plan to railroad customers into electric vehicles.

While the German manufacturer is poised to introduce 25 new electrified models over the next three years – including 12 purely electric cars and 12 plug-in hybrids – it has reaffirmed its commitment to petrol and diesel power for decades to come.

In a media briefing this week the boss of BMW Australia Vikram Pawah said: “We are absolutely committed to the power of choice now and well into the future, allowing customers to choose either a combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, or fully electric vehicle.”

“We are not choosing one technology over the other,” said Mr Pawah, “because we agree the customer would like all the powertrain options available. We are going to offer customers the power of choice to choose the powertrain that they want. We are technology based mobility providers.”

The latest figures show that by the end of 2019, of the 2.5 million cars BMW sold globally last year, approximately 500,000 were plug-in hybrids or full electric vehicles.

While BMW Australia plans to increase the number of plug-in hybrids and electric cars it will introduce locally – including the upcoming Mini electric due mid year (price yet to be announced) – sales are still minuscule compared with the rest of the range.

In 2019, BMW Australia sold just 96 pure electric cars, the BMW i3 (pictured above), and 58 plug-in hybrid vehicles out of its total of 23,307 deliveries for the year.

While the BMW i8 – the plug-in hybrid supercar that launched at the same time as the i3 hatch six years ago – is due to go out of production from April this year, but the i3 is said to continue for some time. BMW is yet to announce an end date for the i3.

MORE:BMW Showroom
MORE:BMW News
MORE:BMW Reviews
MORE:Search Used BMW Cars for Sale
MORE:BMW Showroom
MORE:BMW News
MORE:BMW Reviews
MORE:Search Used BMW Cars for Sale
Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

Read more about Joshua DowlingLinkIcon
Chat with us!







Chat with Agent