Why BMW is the Feyenoord of car brands

CEOs of car companies such as Stellantis and Toyota remain critical of the electric car. Mercedes and Volkswagen openly admit that the EV is causing them headaches. But in Munich it remains silent. For good reason: BMW is rapidly building its electric fleet and is finding success. Actions instead of words. The German competition does not say.

BMW has reached a milestone: it has now reached 1 million electric vehicles. And that is very interesting, because the BMW group was very late with its electric models. The electric BMW i3 was already available in 2013, but after that nothing happened for a long time. The catch is interesting. While the demand for electric cars is declining in many countries, BMW was able to make profits everywhere. In Europe, China and the United States.

Everyone wants an electric BMW

The BMW Group delivered 82,700 fully electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2024. This applies not only to BMWs, but also to Minis and Rolls-Royce Spectre. That is an increase of 28 percent compared to last year. BMW Group’s total sales increased by 1.1 percent to 584,671.

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If we only look at the BMW brand, the EV statistics are more controversial. The brand delivered 78,691 fully electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 40.6 percent compared to last year. So the range is huge, with models like that BMW i4, iX3, iX1, iX and i7. Also of BMW i5 it is now ‘on fire’ and the new iX2 has been available since March.

Mercedes is behind

Mercedes inside Volkswagen stand there and look at it. Mercedes-Benz Group sold 568,400 vehicles in the first three months of the year, down 6 percent compared to 2023. Mercedes-brand EV sales fell 8 percent to 47,500 orders; much less than BMW 78,691. The total EV sales of the Mercedes group is 50,500. That is 9 percent less than in the first quarter of last year.

Electric Volkswagens are also not very popular

The Volkswagen Group is doing well, with 2.1 million vehicles sold, it managed to achieve a sales increase of 3 percent. However, Volkswagen EV sales decreased by 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023, the counter remained stagnant at 136,400. The 24 percent decline in Europe is very worrying. Things also went down well in the US (-16 percent). The Chinese increase of no less than 91 percent was not enough to cover the reduced demand in Europe and the United States.

Despite the decline in sales of electric cars, Volkswagen sees a bright future. This is due to ordering complete books. 160,000 people have ordered an EV from the Volkswagen Group.