Enter BMW i This is no better highlighted than by BMW ’ s commitment to produce 25 different electric and plug-in hybrid models by 2025 . Having quietly worked behind the scenes while the likes of Tesla caught the public eye , the German manufacturer decided to break cover at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September .
“ I think we may have underestimated the importance of heavyweight announcements ,” reveals Dirk Arnold , Vice President of Product Management at BMW i , the division responsible for all things electric . “ I get asked what the next big thing is because we started with the i3 eight years ago , but we haven ’ t until recently made any really big announcements about it .
“ I found it slightly odd that at the major shows in Geneva and Frankfurt the big manufacturers were revealing what they had lined up for five years from now . This never used to happen with internal combustion cars . You don ’ t usually give away your plans , so for me it was pretty handy to see what all the others are doing . However , we decided at Frankfurt that we had to strike back with our own numbers and ideas , even though we have been working on it for a long time .”
BMW i , what Arnold describes as BMW ’ s “ incubator of innovation ”, has a solid base to build from . This year has been a record-breaking one in terms of electric and plug-in hybrid sales , with the 100,000 units mark expected to be hit in December , taking BMW past other manufacturers into the number one spot .
Transition Arnold himself is a “ true believer ”, driving the urban concept i3 before he moved to BMW i in June 2016 .
“ As soon as you have tried it , you will never step back to an internal combustion engine car ,” he says . “ It is a special kind of magic , the acceleration and the silence . There will always be some who don ’ t enjoy the silence , but I have found it easy to convince people .”
For the time being , at least in a global-scale automotive sense , Arnold finds himself in a small minority of electric car enthusiasts - in 2016 , less than 1 % of new registrations were for electric cars . However , several national markets are emerging strongly , markets which BMW i has
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