BMW Expects To Achieve 100,000 Electric-Car Sales In 2017

Very recently #BMW was publicly criticized by its top labor chief for its lack of progress regarding its electric agenda, yet it has big plans for the immediate future.

Speaking with German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the Bavarian car maker’s CEO, Harald Krueger, said the company is looking to greatly improve in 2017, Reuters reports.

According to Krueger, BMW expects to boost its electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles sales figures by two-thirds in 2017, to about 100,000 units. An achievable objective, considering that BMW currently offers four hybrids, besides its two-all electric “i”-branded vehicles. Moreover, BMW also tried to improve the i3’s sales by increasing its battery range by 50 percent this year.

"Electric mobility will come, but demand is not going through the roof at the moment," said Krueger.

Tesla’s 400,000 pre-orders for the Model 3 contradict the argument, and BMW is still falling behind Mercedes and Volkswagen, too, as both companies are working extensively to introduce a comprehensive line-up of battery-powered vehicles by 2020.

BMW, on the other hand, has the i5 in the pipeline and plans to introduce a hybridized X3 SUV and an electric Mini by the end of the decade. But will that be enough? Krueger , who added that a quarter of its automobiles will have hybrid or electric powertrains, seems to think so.