Electric Vehicles Now = 15% Of BMW Passenger Car Sales In N. America, 10% Of Brand Sales

We’ve been having a lot of fun with BMW lately — from visions for the i5, to news of big BMW i3 and BMW i8 range boosts, to rumors of an electric MINI Rocketman, to second-round test drives of the fun i3. I know our diverse readers span a wide spectrum when it comes to EV and automaker preferences, with many 100%-electric-Tesla fanbois & fangurls but also plenty of people who prefer conventional automakers and their approaches to the EV market.

As you may well know by now, my take is that no conventional automakers seem to be making a 100% effort on the electric vehicle front — with perhaps the highest ratings being 60–70% from the likes of BMW, GM, and Renault-Nissan. Depending on the specific topic (and probably my mood), I’m either inclined to support these automakers for the efforts they’ve made and cheer them toward a “100% effort,” or I’m inclined to bash them for dragging their feet and risking both their own corporate futures as well as the future of humanity and countless other species.

Today, I’d encourage people to cheer on BMW for 2.5% of global BMW Group sales being plug-in electrics (including plug-in hybrids), while also pushing BMW to step up its game in order to get to 10%, 20%, and 50% much quicker than almost anyone thinks possible. If BMW doesn’t do so, I’m afraid that it is going to have its luxury/performance-car lunch eaten before noon by the Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X. (I know, they’re in the wrong order, but I think that’s the order for which will have the most impact on BMW.)

Coming back to the BMW news of the day, here are some more hot stats from a recent BMW press release (h/t Mike Millikan):

• 4,504 global BMW battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in April 2016.
  That’s 2.5% of BMW’s global auto sales in April (179,285), or ~1 out of 40 BMW sales.
• 1,854 BMW i3 sales in April 2016.
  That’s 50.7% more than April 2015.
• 2,181 BMW i sales in April 2016.
  That’s 29.4% more than April 2015.
• 1,196 BMW X5 xDrive 40e plug-in hybrid sales in April 2016.
  That’s ~10% of all BMW X5 sales.

Furthermore, the press release about BMW Group’s global sales led with a picture of the BMW i3, the only picture in the release. That’s saying something.

Though, note that BMW’s press release for US and North America sales didn’t mention BMW i or X5 xDrive 40e sales at all. As you can see in the charts and tables below that I created*, however, plug-in vehicles actually represent much larger portions of BMW’s overall sales in North America, including 8.7% of total BMW Group sales on the continent, or 1 out of every 11.5 sales.

If you decide to just look at BMW brand or even BMW passenger car sales, you obviously get better percentages for plug-in cars:

• 3% of BMW brand sales globally were plug-in vehicles in April, or approximately 1 out of every 33 vehicles sold.
• 10% of BMW brand sales were plug-in vehicles in April, or approximately 1 out of every 10 vehicles sold.
• 15% of BMW passenger car sales were plug-in vehicles in April, or approximately 1 out of every 7 vehicles sold.

Looking at things in these ways, one can more easily see BMW making a shift to electrified vehicles … presuming it can get competitive with the top dog in this dog park.

Photo by Zachary Shahan | EV Obsession | CleanTechnica (CC BY-SA 4.0), via CleanTechnica.pics

*With estimates of 10 sales of the BMW i8 and 13 sales of the BMW X5 xDrive 40e in Canada, and all other numbers official.

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