BMW Group to offer electric option in all models

The BMW Group has announced that all of its brands and model series can be electrified, with a full-electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrain being offered in addition to the combustion engine option. The company will bring additional electrified models in the coming years and beyond 2020, even as its next- generation vehicle architecture will enable further fully electric vehicles.

The German luxury carmaker also announced that its new battery-electric Mini will be a variant of the brand's core three-door model. This fully electric car production will commence in 2019 that will increase the choice of Mini powertrains to include petrol and diesel internal combustion engines, a plug-in hybrid and a battery electric vehicle. The electric MINI’s electric drivetrain will be built at the BMW Group’s e-mobility centre at Plants Dingolfing and Landshut in Bavaria before being integrated into the car at Plant Oxford, which is the main production location for the Mini three-door model.

Oliver Zipse, management board member, production, BMW said, “BMW Group Plants Dingolfing and Landshut play a leading role within our global production network as the company’s global competence centre for electric mobility. Our adaptable production system is innovative and able to react rapidly to changing customer demand. If required, we can increase production of electric drivetrain motor components quickly and efficiently, in line with market developments.” 

By 2025, the BMW Group is expecting electrified vehicles to account for between 15-25 percent of its sales. However, factors such as regulation, incentives and charging infrastructure will play a major role in determining the scale of electrification from market to market.

In order to react appropriately and quickly to customer demands, the German automaker has developed a flexible system across its global production network. To be prepared for the future the company is aiming on production systems that will create structures which will enable its production facilities to build models with a combustion engine, plug-in hybrid or fully electric drive train at the same time.

Currently the BMW Group produces electrified models at 10 plants worldwide; since 2013, all the significant elements of the electric drivetrain for these vehicles come from the company’s plants in Dingolfing and Landshut. Dingolfing additionally builds the plug-in hybrid versions of the BMW 5 Series and the BMW 7 Series and from 2021, additional building the BMW i NEXT. The company has already invested a total of more than 100 million euros (Rs 764 crore) in electro-mobility at the Dingolfing site to date.

Electrification of all brands and model series continues

The new, fully-electric Mini is first of the series of electrified models that will be launched by the BMW and Mini brands in the coming years. Additionally, In 2018, the BMW i8 Roadster is set to become the newest member of the i family and the all-electric X3 will be introduced in 2020, while the iNEXT in 2021.

Presently, the company has nine models in its electric offerings in the market. These range from the full-electric i3 to the newest electrified model, the Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4, a plug-in hybrid version of the Mini Countryman, which is produced by VDL Nedcar in the Netherlands.