BMW wants to halve its powertrain offering between now and 2025. That may have something, but certainly not everything to do with the arrival of more and more electric variants.
“We want less complexity, with fewer variants and fewer powertrains. We will only keep those powertrains that are really in demand: roughly half of the current supply will no longer exist in 2025.”
This poorly translated sentence comes from the presentation of BMW CEO Oliver Zipse, in which he discusses the results of the past quarter, and addresses a point that we actually hear more often these days, albeit not often in this form. At other (European) car manufacturers, we see the decline in the number of model variants, especially when it comes to trim levels. That often goes hand in hand with the arrival of an EV (ID3, but also BMW’s iX3) and means the end of endless option lists and stacks of packages.
17 variants of one car
At BMW, however, it is (also) specifically about powertrains. For the BMW 3 Series, the German range includes 3 plug-in hybrids, 6 diesels and 8 petrol engines, including the M models. So 17 variants, and we’re only talking about the sedan. So there is indeed something to be cut in, although that urge comes strikingly shortly after the endless expansion of the model range with numerous niche-filling SUVs.
Although BMW, like other brands, is emphatically committed to electrification, the brand indicated last year that it did not see this as the only way. However, the share of electrified vehicles in the sales figures is increasing rapidly. In the past quarter, which incidentally saw 33 percent more sales than in the first quarter of 2020, sales of plug-in hybrids and EVs more than doubled. Growth is expected to accelerate this year, as the all-electric offering with the i4 and iX will be expanded significantly.
Mercedes
Competitor Mercedes-Benz has also been saying that it wants to shrink its range. However, this is precisely about concrete model lines, which, given the enormous expansion drive of this brand in recent years, may not be a superfluous luxury.