BMW boss Oliver Zipse has suggested that the world is not yet ready for the complete abandonment of internal combustion engines.
While BMW is readying a host of new all-electric vehicles, it has not yet committed to selling only electric vehicles by a specific date like many of its rivals. Indeed, while speaking with German publication Automobilwoche recently, Zipse suggested that ditching combustion engines too soon won’t even have a positive impact on the environment.
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“The largest market segment in absolute terms is by far the combustion engine in Germany, but also in Europe and worldwide,” he said. “Before you simply switch off something like this within eight or ten years, you have to know what you’re doing there. Therefore, we also warn against doing this too early and not giving the transformation a chance to develop with the markets. It would be harmful to simply give up a technology in which you have a global market position without need. I don’t think that would help the climate or anyone else.”
BMW is so steadfast in its belief that there will still be a place for combustion engines for years to come that it is working on a completely new generation of engines, including petrol and diesel six- and eight-cylinder powertrains. These engines will be more efficient than those that they will replace.
This isn’t to suggest that BMW isn’t also investing heavily in electric vehicles. In fact, it is developing an all-new electric-centric platform dubbed Neue Klasse that will underpin a plethora of new models with dramatic designs and electrified powertrains.
