BMW hands over its MILLIONTH electrified vehicle – a BMW iX xDrive40

BMW hands over its millionth electric car to a customer as its electrification drive gathers pace, and aims to double EV sales in 2022.

You could say that BMW, much like Nissan, has rather squandered the lead it had with EVs when the BMW i3 arrived with the promise of more dedicated EVs to follow. But that never really happened, and BMW’s early ‘i’ plans withered on the vine.

But the world has moved on in the decade since the i3 was revealed, and although BMW is currently heading down the road of delivering electric and electrified cars, it’s doing so without the real innovation the i3 brought, although that will change when the ‘Neue Klasse’ arrives mid-decade with an EV-specific platform.

But despite the squandered lead in EVs, BMW has now managed to deliver a million electrified cars (that’s ‘electrified’, not electric) and has pushed the boat to by giving the buyers of the millionth car – a BMW iX xDrive40 – a posh handover with not just a bunch of flowers, but a free wallbox and charging and a handover by BMW’s Board Member Pieter Nota. Nota said:

Thanks to our steadily growing product range, we are setting ourselves ambitious sales targets, in particular for fully-electric vehicles: In 2022, we aim to double this year’s sales. By 2025 the BMW Group will have delivered around two million fully-electric vehicles to customers. We expect at least one out of every two BMW Group vehicles sold to be fully electric by 2030.

The electric ambitions will be helped with a rollout of more ICE-based EVs ahead of the arrival of ‘Neue Klasse’, including the electric versions of the BMW 7 Series and BMW X1 next year and electric BMW 5 Series in 2023.