BMW News: BMW Says Gas Car Sales Have Peaked and Will Focus on EVs

[Anthony Fongaro]

Recently, there has been a shift in BMW's sales plans. Walter Mertl, BMW's Chief Financial Officer, said they have hit the tipping point for internal combustion engines (ICE) and will focus more on electric cars. Mertl also says that ICE vehicle sales have plateaued and will start to decrease. This is due to changes in environmental regulations with stricter or zero emissions. Regulations from China, the European Union, and the United States are causing automakers to expedite creating and producing electric vehicles (EVs).

In 2023, 15% of BMWs sold globally were EVs. Their most popular model was the i4 M50 for the second year in a row. BMW is targeting a 33% share by 2025 and will unveil six vehicles under the Neue Klasse EV lineup. The first vehicle, an X3-sized EV SUV, is expected to arrive in 2025. Mertl did acknowledge that BMW's profit margins for EVs and ICE vehicles won't align until at least 2026. One of the factors Mertl pointed out included the higher costs associated with new battery technology.

Although BMW is shifting towards an all-electric brand, they still want owners to have fun driving a manual. BMW confirmed that the M2, M3, and M4 will keep their manual gearboxes for the current generation. In 2023, 15-20% of M3 and M4s had a manual gearbox, while the M2 was closer to 50%. 

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[G. David Felt]

My gut tells me that the BMW M series of auto's with manual transmissions will be some of the last ICE auto's to go when they do finally move to all electric auto's.