BMW Group announced that the BMW i Vision Dynamics, unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017, will be launched as the all-electric BMW i4.
The BMW i4 is just one of the 25 electrified models that the BMW Group intends to bring to market by 2025. Half of these models will be fully electric.
BMW Group will launch an all-electric Mini next year, followed in 2020 by a full-electric BMW X3. These will be followed in 2021 by the iNEXT.
Powered by the fifth generation of battery and drivetrain technology, from 2021 the BMW Group will be capable of offering all-electric vehicles with a range of up to 700 kilometres (435 miles) and plug-in hybrids with an electrical range of up to 100 kilometres (62 miles).
The BMW i4, which will be a Model S rival, will be manufactured at the company’s plant in Munich where it builds 3- and 4-series models
Today, the BMW Group already manufactures electrified vehicles at ten production facilities. In 2019, Plant Oxford will join this list with the start of production of the fully-electric MINI.
In February, the BMW Group and the Chinese manufacturer Great Wall signed a letter of intent to establish a joint venture for the local production of fully electric MINI vehicles in China. This step is a further clear commitment to the electrified future of the MINI brand and highlights the importance of the Chinese market for the BMW Group.
Continuing progress in the field of electric mobility is a key reason behind the BMW Group’s plan to allocate an increasing amount to research and development in the current year. After a spend of € 6,108 million in 2017, upfront expenditure for tomorrow’s mobility will increase significantly in the financial year 2018. Investment will rise by a further high three-digit million-euro amount year-on-year, primarily for the ongoing new model initiative as well as continued work on e-mobility and autonomous driving. In absolute terms, the amount could reach the 7 billion euro mark. The major scale of investment reflects the BMW Group’s determination to play a leading role in transforming the mobility sector with its future-oriented ACES programme: Automated, Connected, Electrified and Services.
Deliveries of electrified vehicles in 2017 jumped by 65.6% to 103,080 units, driven by the all-electric BMW i3 sales which have risen every year since the model’s market launch in 2013. The BMW Group intends to increase the sales volume of electrified vehicles to at least 140,000 units in 2018 and bring more than half a million electrified vehicles onto the roads by the end of 2019.
