The German luxury automobile manufacturer, BMW has well scheduled its shift to electric cars and its upcoming products will upend the thought that the carmaker is behind on electrification and could make its stock compete with the likes of Tesla, its top executive stated.
“There is a perception that we took a break, but we actually didn’t take a break. We waited for the moment when electromobility is really getting into higher volumes,” BMW’s Chief Executive Oliver Zipse stated.
Amid the tough standards in Europe and China over CO2 emission, the leading carmakers across the globe are racing to develop electric cars. BMW says it expects half of its sales to be fully-electric models by 2030, which is seen as a more conservative approach than rivals like Volkswagen and its stock lifted by grand electrification plans.
Volkswagen has developed its own electric vehicle platform from the ground up. Next month world’s leading luxury automobile manufacturer Daimler will unveil its first Mercedes-Benz model on a dedicated electric platform.
Currently, BMW is building combustion engine, hybrid and electric models on shared platforms which critics point out would compromise the performance of electric vehicles.
“If you look at what’s happening in the market with these (dedicated electric) platforms, the cars all look alike. BMW serves very specifically, high-paying customers, I think they don’t want cars who all look alike,” Mr. Zipse said.
BMW’s chief executive expects that by 2030, the European Union will further tighten its CO2 emission targets. The alliance should not overreach on the Euro 7 car emission proposals for pollutants including nitrous oxide and lung-damaging particulate materials which is due this year. Germany’s auto industry states some proposals under consideration could be helpful to effectively use combustion engines from 2025.
“We should do it in a reasonable way to keep the combustion engine alive because engine improvements will help reach climate goals,” Mr.Zipse stated.
Mr. Zipse said BMW’s market cap of around $64.7 billion is lower than its assets of around $70.5 billion. He further believes that BMW has a great future in the equity market and it will expand more.
