BMW Will Build More SUVs To Help Fund Electrified Future

BMW says it will launch more than 40 new and revised models in the coming two years that will help fund its electrified future.

At the marque’s annual shareholders meeting, BMW chief executive Harald Krueger told investors and the press that among those new models with be the compact X2 crossover and the larger BMW X7. Krueger asserts that the expanded range will boost the brand’s profitability, allowing it to better fund a long-term electrification strategy, Fool reports.

“We intend to launch more than 40 new and revised models of our three premium brands on the market during 2017 and 2018. The new product offensive began successfully with the launch of the new BMW 5 Series in February, further raising the bar in the business sedan segment,” Krueger said.

With the i3 and i8 pioneering BMW’s venture into the electric vehicle market, the company is now preparing to implement this technology into its more mainstream and accessible models.

To do so, BMW will create new pre-engineered sections of vehicle architecture, known as ‘modules’, and use these to offer scalable battery-electric versions of existing internal combustion engine vehicles.

According to BMW chief financial officer Nicolas Peter, “A successful electrification strategy must be capable of dealing with a range of outcomes, including optimistic or more cautious scenarios. If we manage that, we will be able to reconcile sustainable mobility with sustainable profitability.”