BMW Has Sold 250,000 Electrified Vehicles Worldwide

BMW’s EV division has had a record-setting year along with it’s M Series.

While the poster-company for electric vehicles, Tesla, has been over-promising and under-delivering, BMW has quietly been setting real benchmarks for electric vehicles. And while Elon Musk has been having a Twitter meltdown because the automotive media does their job and reports that, well, BMW has sold their 250,000th electrified vehicle. While we’re not a fan of the term “electrified,” it is accurate as according to HybridCars.com’s initial reporting that number includes hybrid vehicles as well as the BMW i models.

Unlike Tesla and their tech industry “first to production” mentality, BMW is being realistic about all-electric vehicles. Back in March, a BMW chief executive stated that mass production of electric cars won’t be viable until 2020. Basically, because it won’t be a profitable enough market until then. However, BMW has been preparing well and providing the existing market now. Since 2013 there have now been four generations of BMW’s electric drive technology evolving alongside the rate of battery science and technology development. Sales have been steady and good throughout BMW’s markets, culminating in a record jump in sales compared to the same time last year.

It all sounds a little boring in a world that demands everything be exciting and arrive tomorrow. However, Tesla is turning into a cautionary tale very quickly indeed. And, even if you ignore factories shutting down, financial issues and Twitter meltdowns, we’re not even sure the all-electric all the time utopia is even going to happen. BMW’s push on hybrid cars is in tune with the current car movement despite what all the self-declared soothsayers are shouting.

Electric cars may turn out to support a strong niche of big-city drivers and not much else, so hybrid is most likely what most people will be driving through the next couple of decades. Whichever way things evolve though, BMW appears to be setting itself up very well for the future by pushing development and sales of electrified vehicles.

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Ian Wright

Ian Wright has been a professional writer for two years and is a regular contributor to Corvette Forum, Jaguar Forum, and 6SpeedOnline, among other auto sites.

His obsession with cars started young and has left him stranded miles off-road in Land Rovers, being lost far from home in hot hatches, going sideways in rallycross cars, being propelled forward in supercars and, more sensibly, standing in fields staring at classic cars. His first job was as a mechanic and then trained as a driving instructor before going into media production.

The automotive itch never left though, and he realized writing about cars is his true calling. However, that doesn’t stop him from also hosting the Both Hand Drive podcast.

Ian can be reached at bothhanddrive@gmail.com