From the heart of the BMW brand – fully-electric on the road: The first BMW i4 vehicles were delivered at the BMW Welt last weekend.
On this special occasion, the BMW Group did not miss the opportunity to invite the customers of the first BMW i4s to an accompanying programme around the fully-electric Gran Coupé in Munich.
Stefan Ballin, owner of an electrical contracting company and one of the first customers, was delighted to take delivery of his BMW i4: “It wasn’t possible, at the time I placed the order, to take a test drive, but I knew the BMW i4 was exactly the right car for me! I was impressed by the concept – the symbiosis of range, elegant design and unmistakeable BMW sportiness. I also wanted a car that would show how we, as an innovative company, can comfortably integrate electromobility into both our private and working environments. I’m also looking forward to sporty driving pleasure with zero emissions in the i4 – because the electricity I need to run it will come from our own photovoltaic system.”
“It is a very special moment for us when we hand over brand new models to customers for the first time. The BMW i4 shows in an emotional way how well fully-electric mobility and sporty driving dynamics fit together. For us, it is therefore clear: the BMW i4 will offer our customers a whole new dimension of driving pleasure. With the BMW i4, we have absolutely struck a chord. You can see this from the very high demand for this car. We are delighted to be expanding our electrified product line-up with this sporty, fully-electric Gran Coupé at exactly the right time and to present the first vehicles to our customers today – three months earlier than originally planned. The first delivery of a BMW i4 today, and the first BMW iX in about a week, are further milestones for the BMW Group on the road to electromobility,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, Senior Vice President BMW Group Market Germany.
Kuhnt goes on to explain: “One in four BMWs delivered in Germany today already comes with a fully-electric drive train or is a plug-in hybrid. By the end of the third quarter, around 41,900 electrified BMWs and 8,820 electrified MINIs had been delivered to customers this year. The fully-electric MINI Cooper SE alone already accounts for about 20 percent of MINI brand sales. The BMW Group has almost doubled its sales of electrified models in Germany compared with the previous year, at around 25 percent.”
The BMW i4 combines characteristic sportiness with elegant design – and brings electromobility to the traditional core of the BMW brand. The four-door Gran Coupé is the first fully-electric BMW consistently geared towards driving dynamics. Impressive driving dynamics and high range are combined by harnessing the power of efficient drive technology and intelligent lightweight construction.
Range and innovative technology were also purchasing considerations for Ronny Scharschmidt, whose firm implements regional construction projects with renewable energies: “I decided on the i4 because of the range and the many new driving functions and on-board sensors that make driving safer and more comfortable. My first long drive in the BMW i4 will be from Munich directly home to Saxony-Anhalt: In the meantime, there are enough fast chargers that you don’t have to worry about charging anymore.”
When BMW Group customers buy an electrified vehicle, it comes with a BMW or MINI Charging Card that gives them access to one of the world’s largest charging networks. BMW also offers two options for convenient charging at home: the BMW Wallbox and the Smart Wallbox from BMW Group partner NewMotion. For example, this wallbox also enables company car drivers to precisely record charging processes for accounting purposes.
In addition to the two main innovation flagships, the BMW iX and BMW i4, the BMW i3, MINI SE and BMW iX3 are already on the market. These will be followed in the coming years by fully-electric versions of the BMW 7 Series, BMW X1 and the high-volume BMW 5 Series. Every plant in Germany will produce fully-electric cars from 2022 onwards. A fully-electric successor to the MINI Countryman and the all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre will also be released onto the market. By 2023, the BMW Group will have at least one fully-electric model on the roads in about 90 percent of its current market segments. The BMW Group expects fully-electric vehicles to account for at least 50 percent of its global sales in 2030.
