BMW said on Friday that it wants to double its sales of fully-electric vehicles this year as the automaker and competitors race to release new models to comply with CO2 emissions targets and chase electric car market leader Tesla Inc.
BMW also said that including plug-in hybrids, it intends for a 50% boost in sales of electrified vehicles versus 2020.
It did not provide sales volumes for its wholly electric vehicles but in 2020 data released on Tuesday BMW said it sold close to 193,000 electrified vehicles – fully electric and plug-in hybrid – last year.
Tesla delivered almost 500,000 vehicles, all fully electric, to customers in 2020.
The BMW Group presently produces 13 electrified models – either fully electric or plug-in hybrid – sold in 74 markets.
BMW has also said that its global EV sales increased 31.8% in 2020 and accounted for 15% of its sales in Europe, helping the company meet its European Union emissions targets for last year.
By 2023, BMW said it would nearly double its lineup of electrified vehicles to 25 models, with more than half of them fully electric.
Together with emissions targets, an increasing number of countries will ban the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles starting in 2030, adding pressure on automakers to develop electric vehicles.
