German luxury automaker BMW is planning to bring electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing into its mass production system, reports Reuters citing the company CEO Harald Krüger. "The fully electric drivetrain will be integrated into our core brands. To achieve this we are now gearing our architectures toward combustion engines and pure battery electric drivetrains," he was quoted as saying. According to the report, BMW is planning to increase output of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), which are a profitable segment for the automaker, to help fund the rollout of a mass production system for electric cars.
Significance: Currently, BMW is manufacturing its EV at its low-volume electric car factory in the German city Leipzig. However, Krueger recently hinted that the production could move to other locations, saying that a new electric car under the Mini brand could be manufactured at several locations in Europe, according to Reuters. The possible locations under consideration include Oxford in England, Born in the Netherlands, and Leipzig and Regensburg in Germany. The final decision is expected to be taken sometime this year.
BMW has also announced that it would increase its production capacity for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in Thailand. The company sold a total of 62,000 electrified vehicles (EVs) in 2016, which is around 2.6% of all cars sold by BMW during the year. It has been reported that BMW expects the contributions of EVs in sales to be between 15% and 20% by 2025. BMW has already announced that it is looking to sell more than 100,000 EVs in 2017 alone
