BMW’s chief executive officer Oliver Zipse has stated that production will need to ramp up in order for EVs to become cheaper
BMW’s chief executive officer Oliver Zipse has told US media that electromobility will never be cheap, even if higher production creates lower cost.
In an interview with CNBC at the recent launch of the I Vision Dee concept in Las Vegas, Zipse said that EVs “will never be cheap”.
“BMW offers electric cars in all segments, and of course as we scale things up there will be a tendency that things become cheaper, but electromobility will never be cheap, and that’s the next task with this industry, to bring the prices down even further,” Zipse said.
BMW is a luxury automaker, however, so it’s unlikely that prices for future electric BMWs will drop significantly.
With BMW’s i3 small-sized EV now discontinued in Australia, the next most affordable BMW EV that is currently on sale is the BMW i4 coupe that is priced from $99,900 before on-road costs.
However, the BMW iX1 will soon become the cheapest electric car sold by BMW in Australia and will start from $84,900 before on-road costs.
That’s still some way off the likes of the $63,900 Polestar 2 or the $65,500 Tesla Model 3.
Both the MG ZS EV and the BYD Atto 3 have become the cheapest EVs on the Australian new car market.
The MG ZS EV starts from $43,990 before on-road costs, while the new BYD Atto 3 is priced from $44,381 before on-road costs.
Premium-positioned EVs from the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and BMW start at a higher entry price, such as the Mercedes-Benz EQA250 that starts from $81,700 before on-road costs.
Latest news
About Chasing cars
Chasing Cars reviews are 100% independent.
Because we are powered by Budget Direct Insurance, we don’t receive advertising or sales revenue from car manufacturers.
We’re truly independent – giving you Australia’s best car reviews.