The end of the combustion engine could be a long time coming in central markets such as China or the USA.
(Photo: Reuters)
Combustion engines are a discontinued model in the automotive industry. The only open question is whether the death of technology in new cars will happen suddenly or rather in installments. BMW tends to believe the latter and relies on a dual strategy. On the one hand, the group is making the largest investment in the company’s history. With the “New Class”, the Bavarians are developing an entire portfolio of new electric cars from 2025, which will be built on an uncompromising power architecture.
On the other hand, BMW continues to invest in combustion engines and plans to offer the X-series off-road vehicles with modernized diesel and gasoline engines well into the next decade.
That costs a lot of money. In the coming years, the group is likely to lag behind competitors such as Mercedes-Benz or Audi, who are focusing on a drive concept with the battery, due to the double development effort in terms of return on sales. In the long term, however, BMW could do better. Because the vehicle manufacturers can hardly influence central factors in the powertrain turnaround.
Will the necessary charging infrastructure for millions of electric cars really exist? Is there enough green electricity? Can the networks withstand the load? How long will governments promote battery technology? And are all customers really willing to switch to electric drives?
A lot depends on politics. But she often acts fickle. The end of the combustion engine could be a long time coming in central markets such as China or the USA, and in Latin America and Africa anyway. If that happens, those with a pure electricity strategy would have miscalculated. BMW should then snatch market share from them. The Munich spread their risk. It comes at a price, but it’s not the dumbest strategy.
More: The combustion bet: BMW wants to continue investing in petrol and diesel