BMW is starting to see the merit of selling battery electric vehicles (BEV). The legacy automaker set new quarterly benchmarks for battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric cars in the United States during Q3 2022.
BMW’s U.S. brand sales increased by 3.2% in the third quarter, partly due to battery electric vehicle availability. The OEM sold approximately 78,031 vehicles in Q3 2022, compared to 75,619 units sold in the third quarter last year.
The increased availability of the battery electric BMW iX Sports Activity vehicle and BMW i4 Gran Couple significantly contributed to BMW’s sales growth in the third quarter. The legacy automaker sold 4,337 battery electric vehicles. It delivered approximately 10,858 BEVs and Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) combined.
“The customer demand and enthusiasm for BMW’s electric vehicles has been there from the start,” said Sebastian Mackensen, President and CEO of BMW of North America. “With the support of our dealer partners, we expect this momentum to accelerate through the fourth quarter, resulting in a strong finish to the year.”
BMW plans to expand its battery electric lineup in the fourth quarter with its first-ever all-electric i7 sedan, which has started arriving at U.S. dealerships. CFO Nicolas Peter told Bloomberg that BMW expects EV deliveries to range between 240,000 to 245,000 this year. BMW AG believes EV sales and deliveries will jump by 70% or up to 400,000 next year due to strong demand.
Peter stated that BMW’s global sales would be slightly lower this year than in 2021 because of the losses the company incurred in the first half of 2022. Due to the pandemic, BMW has had to deal with supply chain challenges, including shortages of semiconductors. Supply issues and similar challenges have disrupted BMW’s EV production in 2022. However, BMW’s CFO is looking forward to next year when the company aims to make “another big leap” with all-electric vehicles.
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