BMW has just reached a major milestone, reaching one million EV deliveries, as sales surged in the first quarter of 2024. With EV sales rising in all major regions, BMW outpaced the competition in the first quarter of the year.
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"The BMW Group is continuing its BEV development path. With the delivery of one million fully electric vehicles since the launch of the BMW i3, we have reached an important milestone that confirms the attractiveness of our product portfolio," said BMW Sales Chief Executive Jochen Goller on Wednesday.
The milestone comes after BMW introduced the i3 as its first fully electric car in 2013. Nissan reached the milestone last July after launching the first LEAF in 2010.
BMW delivered 82,700 fully electric BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce EV vehicles in the first three months of the year. That's a 28 percent increase from last year and enough to outpace rival luxury automakers
Overall sales rose slightly to 584,671 in the first quarter (+1.1%), but BMW's electric vehicles were the main reason for the growth.
BMW delivered 78,691 fully electric vehicles in the first quarter, a 40.6% increase from last year. According to BMW, the i4, iX3, iX1, iX and i7 were “in high demand.”
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The new iX2 has been garnering positive reviews since its launch last month. BMW's new all-electric i5 has also been in high demand.
BMW's first-quarter growth in EV sales was enough to outpace rivals Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. The Mercedes-Benz Group sold 568,400 vehicles in the first three months of the year, down 6% year-on-year.
Mercedes brand EV sales also fell 8% from last year, with 47,500 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter. The group's total EV sales fell to 50,500, down 9% from last year.
Volkswagen Group Q1 deliveries rose 3%, with 2.1 million vehicles sold. However, VW’s EV sales also fell, falling 3 % year-on-year to 136,400 . Although EV sales in China rose 91% , it was not enough to offset the impact in Europe (-24%) and the US (-16%) .
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One of the biggest challenges for the electric car market is charging infrastructure. The lack of widely available charging stations can discourage consumers from purchasing electric cars. In addition, battery range is another major challenge. Many electric cars have limited range compared to cars that use gasoline or diesel, which can raise concerns about range. Price is also a major factor. Electric cars are often more expensive than their internal combustion counterparts, at least in their initial purchase.
Source: electrek
