BMW r&d chief sees rising demand for diverse, multifunctional powertrains

"The best assumption is that electrified vehicles will account for 20 percent to 30 percent of worldwide sales by 2030, but with a very diverse global distribution," says BMW's Froehlich. (simon koy)

January 05, 2020 09:37 AM

Electrification will come but the speed of adoption will vary greatly. That is why BMW r&d boss Klaus Froehlich believes that future vehicle architectures will need to be flexible enough to rapidly adapt to tougher global emissions rules as well as changing customer tastes. He shared his thoughts on this and more with Automotive News Europe Associate Publisher and Editor Luca Ciferri during multiple conversations this year.

Except for the full-electric i3, BMW only uses flexible architectures that can accommodate internal combustion, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric powertrains. Was this the right call?
A flexible architecture is the best solution for the next five to 10 years, but clearly if the world turns fully electric, we will develop dedicated architectures.