BMW announces its one millionth electric car since the launch of the i3

The Munich-based automobile manufacturer BMW has announced the sale of its one-millionth electric car since the introduction of the i3 - and generally sees an upward trend for electric cars in Germany and Europe. "We have thus reached a milestone," proclaimed BMW's Head of Sales Jochen Goller on Wednesday. Worldwide, the brand with the propeller sold a quarter more battery-powered cars, that is, 82,700 electric cars, out of a total of 594,671 models from the BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce brands.

Among the fully electric vehicles, the BMW i4, BMW iX3*, BMW iX1, BMW iX, and BMW i7 are particularly popular. The brand also receives positive customer feedback for the new BMW iX2, which had its market launch in March. Additionally, the newly introduced BMW 5 Series with four drive concepts, including the fully electric BMW i5, is enjoying particular popularity.

Light and Shadow: High-Performance Combustion Engines are also Booming at BMW

However, this is countered by a sales record for high-performance combustion engine models from BMW M, with another increase over the previous year: With 48,110 vehicles sold, the previous year's value for the comparison period was exceeded by +3.6%. Significantly contributing to the strong quarterly result are the still popular high-performance models BMW M2, M3 Sedan, M3 Touring, and BMW XM, as well as the newly introduced performance derivatives BMW X1 M35i, M760e, i7 M70, and i5 M60.

VW is Pleased with Increasing Orders

Volkswagen also noted a small upward trend. According to a report from the Reuters agency, the company collected twice as many orders for electric cars in the first quarter, with 160,000, as in the previous year. This is more than were sold in the first quarter, with 136,400 electric vehicles, although this is three percent fewer than in the previous year. According to a company spokesperson cited by the agency, this is also due to supply shortages for electric motors from the Kassel plant, resulting in production pauses at the Zwickau electric plant. Nevertheless, the orders are encouraging, as Sales Director Hildegard Wortmann noted, despite market weakness in Germany. Electric cars are currently shelf warmers after first the premium was scrapped and then manufacturers' discount campaigns expired. Discounts on electric cars are now only at 12.6 percent compared to 16.9 percent for combustion engines currently.