German luxury car-maker BMW plans to launch 40 new or revised models under its brands BMW, Mini and Rolls Royce by 2018 as it looks to compete against its rival Mercedes.
The company will focus on top end and premium segments in its biggest ‘model offensive’, in order catch up with its rival.
BMW Board of Management chairman Harald Krüger said: “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."
In a bid to increase its sales significantly by 2020, the company plans to add a number of new models including BMW X7 which will complement the BMW 7 series.
The company is also looking to increase the number of electric and hybrid vehicles and SUV models in the coming days. It had started i project back in 2007 and after 10 years it is set to deliver 200,000th electric vehicle this year.
In the second stage of electrification, BMW plans to launch the BMW iNEXT, a project which will pursue the strategy that will develop different drivetrains that will be incorporated in plug-in hybrid, all electric vehicles and battery-powered vehicles across its brands and key model series.
Krüger added: “The all-electric MINI and the all-electric BMW X3 will mark the beginning of the second wave of electrification for the BMW Group, benefitting from the ongoing technological progress we are making in this area.
“Strategy NUMBER ONE > NEXT sets out our strategic course for further electrification and the direction of project i over the coming decade. We will incorporate all-electric, battery-powered mobility into our core brands, as we have already done successfully with our plug-in hybrid vehicles.
“By using highly flexible architectures we can avoid duplicate investments in plant and equipment and will be able to adapt our range of electric and conventional vehicles to changing demand both quickly and efficiently.”
Besides, electric vehicles, the group is also working on automated driving as part of its focuses on Autonomous, Connected, Electrified and Shared / Services (ACES). It has collaborated with Intel and Mobileye. BMW plans to introduce a highly automated driving with BMW iNEXT in 2021.
At its annual press conference, BMW noted that it had sold 2.3 million vehicles for 2016 which was more than 5.3% more than the sales volume in 2015.
It earned revenue of €94bn and its profit before tax was €9.6bn while its profit increased 4.8% compared to 2015.
“Once again, we are targeting record sales volume, revenues and earnings in 2017,” Krüger added.
“The BMW Group forecasts a slight increase in Automotive segment deliveries to customers in the current financial year, which would result in a corresponding growth in segment revenues. Group profit before taxes is also expected to improve slightly.”
