BMW's new approach to selling electric cars

Whether it is a more mature market or BMW’s new approach to selling electric vehicles (EVs), the Bavarian brand is now finding more success with its i4, iX3 and iX than it did with the ground-breaking i3 and i8.

Released locally back in 2014, the i3 electric city hatch and head-turning i8 performance hybrid coupe were BMW’s first attempts at making electric technology mainstream, and it did it by launching two standalone models to set themselves apart from the mainstream petrol and diesel-powered line-up at the time.

However, that strategy has since changed tack, with BMW now offering all-electric versions of existing cars that sit alongside petrol-powered variants under the same model umbrella.

Read More About BMW i Series

The sedan isn't finished yet! 2023 BMW i7 electric car to be more popular than petrol-powered sibling The Chinese cars you didn't know were Chinese! 2023 BMW iX1 detailed! New electric SUV helps X1 take fight to Mercedes-Benz EQA, Volvo XC40 Recharge and Lexus UX 300e

Take, for example, the i4, which is the all-electric version of the 4 Series Gran Coupe, and shares the same platform, most of the interior and even much of the same exterior styling – it just so happens to be electric.

Speaking to CarsGuide, BMW Australia head of product and market planning Brendan Michel said he believes this new strategy of embedding an EV in an existing model line is resonating well with customers who might not want everything about their vehicle to change at once.

“The good example I’ll give you I think is the iX3, and we’ve had this feedback from customers and our dealer network as well,” he said.

“The most familiar thing, for a customer to do is go from an X3 petrol or diesel into this iX3 because the setup – everything in it – is so familiar.

“It drives like an X3, it just doesn’t drink petrol or diesel.

“And it’s something really, really easy for people … who don’t know what to expect when they’re moving into this electric vehicle range.

“But the iX3 is so familiar to them in the way it drives … everything is just identical to a normal, regular internal combustion engine X3.”

However, the EV market in 2022 is also much more mature than it was back in 2014 or even just a few years ago, with options ranging from the soon-to-launch BYD Atto 3, MG ZS EV and Nissan Leaf, all the way up to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz EQS, Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron.

In fact, in 2020, only 1769 EVs were sold in Australia, and after only seven months of trading in 2022, that figure has jumped nearly 600 per cent to 10,289.

And with more EVs coming to market, that figure is set to grow even further as more charging infrastructure is also rolled out.

“I think there’s more awareness in the market now, [but] it’s still in its infancy at the moment, but our charging infrastructure is growing daily,” Mr Michel said.

“That’s a lot more visible and takes out that range anxiety. And I think the amount of information out there, now available to people, they’re starting to get their heads around it and understand it a lot more now too.

“Which, four or five years ago, that wasn’t the case.”

BMW Australia currently offers the i4, iX3 and iX in its electric vehicle portfolio, but will soon add the i7 large luxury limousine to its ranks by the end of the year, while the iX1 will touch down locally early next year.

As to how high electric car sales can climb, Mr Michel pointed to BMW’s global ambition of having half its sales by the end of the decade being in EVs.

“That’s probably something where you’d expect here in Australia, we would probably be close to that 50/50 split as well,” he said.