The BMW group saw a slight rise in sales in the first half of this year thanks mainly to a 34% increase in battery electric vehicle sales. However, speaking about the sales results and looking to the future, CEO Oliver Zipse has said that the company still sees a role for the combustion engine many years into the future. 

Zipse commented, “I have often emphasised that blindly following the hype is not a strategy. Emotion and nervousness have never been good advisors. It is clear that BMW’s strategy, in which there is room for a variety of drive types, has proven to be a “robust strategy” in such “turbulent times.” 

The BMW CEO also said that the European Commission needs to do more to support alternatives to battery electric drives. He stated, “If the European Commission does nothing to increase the use of low-CO2 fuels, it will still indirectly remain a willful ban on combustion engines. We continue to believe that a categorical ban on combustion technology is wrong, and we continue to focus on efficient combustion engines and plug-in hybrid technology openly.”

Currently BMW sales include a share of just under 16% for BEV, so even with a deadline more than ten years away the company, like most other manufacturers, BMW requires a dramatic turnaround in  production and sales activity to meet the 2035 deadline.