BMW accelerates electric car plans by 2 years, unveils new EV concepts

Fred Lambert | Jun 25 2019 - 9:12 am PT

BMW announced today that it is accelerating its electric car plans by two years as it unveils new electric vehicle concepts – showcasing its latest EV technology.

At its ‘NEXTGen’ event in Munich today, the German automaker said that it now plans to have 25 electrified models in 2023 – two years ahead of schedule.

Harald Krüger, CEO of BMW, said about the announcement:

“We are moving up a gear in the transformation towards sustainable mobility, thereby making our company fit for the future: Over the past two years, we have consistently taken numerous decisions that we are now bringing to the roads. By 2021, we will have doubled our sales of electrified vehicles compared with 2019. We will offer 25 electrified vehicles already in 2023 – two years earlier than originally planned. We expect to see a steep growth curve towards 2025: Sales of our electrified vehicles should increase by an average of 30 percent every year.”

As we previously reported, BMW hasn’t released a new all-electric vehicle since the launch of the BMW i3 in 2013.

Now it plans to release a series of new all-electric vehicles over the next few years.

They have the Mini Electric coming by the end of the year. They also have the BMW iX3, an all-electric SUV, which is due to go on sale next year. The BMW i4, an all-electric sedan, and the BMW iNEXT, an all-electric crossover, are also being brought to market in 2021.

Earlier this year, BMW revealed the latest iX3, i4, and iNext electric vehicle prototypes during winter testing.

While the automaker s talking about all those EVs hitting the market, BMW is talking about 25 “electrified” models and that includes plug-in hybrids, which are still an important part of the automaker’s electrification plans.

With BMW’s fifth generation electric powertrain technology, the automaker is able to produce the same series cars with different powertrains (all-electric, gas, or plug-in hybrid) on the same production line.

Along with the announcement of the acceleration of its electrification plans, BMW unveiled 3 new electric concepts vehicles at its ‘NEXTGen’ event today: