BMW's relationship with cars of the 'green' variety has been a complicated one.
While the i3 and i8 both scored fans among many a journalist, neither was necessarily a big sales success globally. You get the feeling that both models must've been the topic of plenty of internal debate, given that BMW's chief technical officer once called the shift to elecrification "over-hyped", and given its former CEO stepped down after a disappointing transition to electrification.
But things look to be well and truly on the upswing for the marque. Excitement for the 390kW, 600km range i4 is growing — and ditto too for the iX3 SUV. And, according to Pieter Nota of BMW Customer, Brands and Sales management, sales of electrified Beemers have been well above expectation in 2020.
“Demand for our electrified vehicles outperformed the market trend in the first half of the year”, he said. “Our wide range of plug-in hybrid models and the new fully-electric Mini are in high demand among our customers.”
BMW states that 61,652 hybrids and electric cars from BMW and Mini were delivered to new owners in the first half of 2020. The 3.4 per cent lift versus the same six month period is impressive in its own right, but becomes somewhat astonishing when you consider that it took place against the backdrop of an enormous global pandemic.
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"We are following the development of global demand very closely and continue to plan for various scenarios so we can respond quickly as regions around the globe recover from the coronavirus pandemic at different speeds", Nota added.
"We are seeing a positive development in China, where our second-quarter sales were once again higher than in the previous year."
It's not all good news for BMW, of course. Like many other brands they took a dip in other areas off the back of the Covid-19 pandemic. Across the same six-month period, sales of BMW vehicles overall dropped by 21.7 per cent and Mini by 31.1 per cent. Expect to see a rebound of sorts in the six months following.