Recently, media reports stated that BMW has rolled off the last internal combustion engine at its Munich factory in Germany. After that, the factory will no longer produce any parts related to fuel vehicles, but will undergo a round of transformation. , upgraded to become a production base for pure electric vehicles.
In this regard, the well-known overseas automotive media The Drive commented: "It is appropriate for BMW to use the Munich factory for the production of electric vehicles. For more than 100 years, Munich has been BMW's headquarters and main factory, and it is also the brand's most important and most conspicuous factory. This should push the company towards the future."
Many netizens believe that the above move marks that Germany will completely abandon fuel vehicle products and fully carry out pure electric transformation, which marks that BMW will become the first BBA The German giants have given up on internal combustion engines, so is this really the case?
In fact, the upgrading and transformation of 's Munich factory has been planned a few years ago. As early as 2020, BMW announced that it would transfer the internal combustion engine production line of the factory to places such as the United Kingdom and Austria. It is necessary to comprehensively upgrade the Munich factory. After all, as BMW's production line in its hometown of Germany, it is reasonable and reasonable to take the lead in upgrading it, rather than abandoning the internal combustion engine as rumored by the outside world.
After the Munich plant ceases production, BMW's N63, S63 and other V8 engines will be produced by the Steyr plant in Austria, while the S68 high-performance V8 engine and N74 V12 engine will be produced by the Hamhall plant in the UK. The original Munich factory will undergo a thorough transformation with the financial support of 400 million euros. It is expected that in 2025, the factory will produce the new BMW i3 and i3 Touring series station wagons, the new BMW i4 and more pure electric vehicles. product.
Of course, in Germany, in addition to the renovation of the Munich factory, BMW will also invest 100 million euros and plans to build a new battery testing center in the Wackersdorf area to test the batteries of electric vehicles and other electric drive components. Performance, the center is expected to be completed and put into operation next year.
At the same time, BMW is also continuing to increase its influence in the pure electric field in North America. Just last month ( October ), BMW and Rolls-Royce North America officially announced that they will implement a preferential charging policy in Canada and the United States.
Users of BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce pure electric products using the combined charging system CCS will be able to charge at designated Tesla Supercharging stations from 2025, which will also greatly improve North America. The driving experience of BMW pure electric vehicle users. At the same time, the BMW Group will also use Tesla's NACS North American standard for new pure electric vehicles from 2025 to meet users' charging needs as comprehensively as possible.
As for the Chinese market, which BMW has always attached great importance to, they are also doing their best to build a new pure electric product production line . In order to protect their own interests in China, they immediately stood up to express their opposition after the launch of anti-subsidy investigations in Europe and the United States. Its chief financial officer, Walter Myrtle, publicly expressed concern that China may take countermeasures against European car companies.
Of course, although BMW has invested a lot of energy in the electric vehicle track, this does not mean that they will give up the internal combustion engine. After all, in their previously announced official plan, the sales volume of fuel vehicles must be maintained even by 2030. At 50% of the volume, this decision is more in line with BMW’s current actual situation.
Taking the third quarter of this year as an example, BMW’s global sales were 620,000 units, of which only 94,000 pure electric vehicles sold by BMW and MINI were sold, accounting for only 15% of the total sales. In other words, At present, BMW's revenue is still supported by fuel vehicle products.
It can be seen that if BMW wants to complete its electrification transformation, it must rely on fuel vehicle products to provide a steady stream of stable income. After all, the research and development and production line transformation of new energy vehicles are very costly. Therefore, in the next few years, "BMW will stop producing internal combustion engines." "It's all very unlikely to happen.
