BMW product chief Herbert Diess says “Electricification will be a central thread in what we do, be it plug-in hybrid, hybrid or full electrification".
Diess told Autocar "all BMW models will soon need to be sold with some form of electrification - be it in hybrid form or pure electric drive" as it is the only way of meeting stringent emissions regulations in the future.
“We are planning to have a plug-in hybrid in each and every model series,” BMW’s head of production for large vehicles, Peter Wolf, told motoring.com.au. “So far we have the 3, 5 and 7 Series as full hybrids, and at the other end of the bookshelf the i3 and the i8. We are planning to work on that with the X5 eDrive, but at this stage, the plug-in is a completely new concept, and the battery is very specific [to the X5].”
Diess explained that European customers are likely to see most of the new electric-drive technology first, as regulations here are stricter than elsewhere.
“The i8 shows what’s possible even below 50g/km, but we will also offer all standard models with entry-level electrification. We will try to use the modular kit developed for the i3 and i8 on a kit basis.”
BMW could build a large battery powered sedan to compete head on with Tesla's Model S likely to be called i5.
