The BMW Group has announced that all of its model series will in the near future be able to accommodate electrification, with a full-electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrain being offered in addition to the regular combustion engine option.
The German automaker said that “additional electrified models” would be brought to market in the coming years. Beyond 2020, the company added that its “next-generation vehicle architecture will enable further fully electric vehicles”.
The BMW Group furthermore announced that the new battery-electric Mini would be a variant of the three-door model and go into production in 2019. The battery 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.
The Munich-based brand also confirmed that an all-electric BMW X3 was scheduled to arrive in 2020.
By 2025, the BMW Group said it expected electrified vehicles to account for between 15 and 25% of sales. However, it added that “factors such as regulation, incentives and charging infrastructure” would play a major role in determining the scale of electrification from market to market.
“In order to react quickly and appropriately to customer demand, the BMW Group has developed a uniquely flexible system across its global production network. In the future, the BMW Group production system will create structures that enable our production facilities to build models with a combustion engine, plug-in hybrid or fully electric drivetrain at the same time,” the automaker said in a statement.
The BMW Group currently produces electrified models at ten plants worldwide.
