The BMW Group has reached its goal of delivering more than 100,000 electrified cars in 2017. The total includes hybrids and electric cars sold across the BMW and Mini brands.
The 100,000th car was a BMW i3 finished in blue. It was handed over to its owner at the BMW Group headquarters in Munich, Germany at a special ceremony on Monday.
The BMW Group also marked the milestone by using lighting to transform its headquarters into a battery symbol displaying the prominent declaration, “The future is electric.”
The BMW Group is well aware the milestone represents only the start of a long journey toward zero-emission driving. After all, this year the automaker is on track to deliver over two million cars, so electrified cars are still only a small fraction of the total.
2018 BMW i3
“Selling 100,000 electrified cars in one year is an important milestone, but this is just the beginning for us,” BMW Group Chairman Harald Krüger said in a statement.
The next milestone will take place later this decade when the BMW Group starts selling core models with electric powertrains. The first will be the Mini Hardtop in 2019 followed by the BMW X3 in 2020. The latter will be badged an iX3 in electric guise.
By 2025, the BMW Group will have 25 electrified cars on sale, 12 of which will be electric cars and the rest plug-in hybrids. At this date, the automaker is hoping that between 15 and 25 percent of its sales will be made up by electrified cars.
Other automakers are even more ambitious. Toyota, for example, announced on Monday that every car in its lineup will offer an electrified option by 2025. The Volkswagen Group is committed to launching 30 electric cars by 2025, while General Motors will have 20 of them by 2023.
