BMW aims to double its sales of full-electric vehicles this year as the automaker and its rivals race to release new models to comply with CO2 emissions targets and chase market leader Tesla.
The production starts this year of the BMW iX flagship electric crossover and the i4 electric sedan on top of the launches last year of the BMW iX3 crossover and a battery-powered Mini, which will help to boost sales, BMW said in a statement on Friday.
BMW plans to almost double the number of electrified vehicles it offers to 25 models by 2023. More than half of these will be fully electric.
BMW also said that including plug-in hybrids, it aims for a 50 percent increase in sales of electrified vehicles versus 2020.
It did not give sales volumes for its full-electric vehicles but in 2020 data released on Tuesday, the automaker said it sold nearly 193,000 full electric and plug-in hybrid cars last year.
Tesla delivered just under 500,000 vehicles, all full-electric, to customers in 2020.
The BMW Group currently produces 13 electrified models - either full-electric or plug-in hybrids - sold in 74 markets.
BMW said on Tuesday that its global sales of electrified cars rose 32 percent in 2020 and accounted for 15 percent of its sales in Europe, helping the company meet its European Union emissions targets for last year.
As well as emissions targets, a growing number of countries will ban the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles starting in 2030, adding pressure on automakers to develop electric vehicles.
