- BMW has delivered 2 million fully electric cars around the world.
- Europe’s surging EV market is giving the new iX3 real momentum.
- Electric sales are falling in America though BMW sales are rising.
BMW’s electric adventure has officially passed a big milestone. Almost 13 years after the original i3 arrived, the company has handed over its two millionth fully electric vehicle. And one of the factors making that possible is that EV sales are currently going gangbusters in one specific region.
The landmark two-millionth car was an i5 M60 xDrive built in Dingolfing and delivered to a customer in Spain. Add plug-in hybrids and BMW Group says it’s shifted around 3.5 million electrified vehicles since 2013, while more than one in four of its global sales during the first half of 2026 had some form of electric propulsion.
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Things are moving particularly quickly in Europe. BMW’s European BEV sales jumped 38 percent during the second quarter to 81,445 cars. Fully electric models represented roughly 28 percent of BMW’s European sales during 2026’s first half.
That’s not happening in isolation. Almost 1.5 million BEVs were registered across Europe through July, up 30 percent year over year. July alone saw electric cars grab 35 percent of the French market and 29 percent in Germany. Denmark, meanwhile, hit 80 percent, Reuters reports.
BMW’s new iX3 appears well placed to seize the opportunity. The automaker says it’s approaching 100,000 orders, and since its unveiling, one in three electric BMWs ordered in Europe has been an iX3. And half of European X3-family orders are already for the electric version, which admittedly looks miles better than its ICE brother inside and out.
Growing Family
The Neue Klasse family is expanding, too. Series production of the new electric i3 3-series began in Munich this month, with BMW reporting strong early demand ahead of its market launch. And the new X5 has an electric variant for the first time that will be in showrooms in spring 2027.
But cross the Atlantic and the EV party suddenly gets quieter. US electric sales across the industry fell more than 20 percent year over year in the second quarter following the removal of federal tax incentives, leaving EVs with around a 6 percent share of the market.
No Love For iX
BMW’s own figures show that while North American sales of PHEV vehicles grew 22.9 percent in Q2, sales of electrified (EV and hybrid) vehicles tanked to the tune of -18.1 percent, revealing just how bad demand for EVs is now that US tax credits have gone. Sales of the iX electric SUV, for example, are down almost 50 percent year-to-date, official automaker figures say, though a recent facelift and price cut might help going forward. And Cox Automotive suggests BMW’s overall EV sales in the US are down 56 percent year-to-date. Ouch.
The arrival at BMW showrooms in September of the confident Neue Klasse iX3, whose fresh design will also help improve BMW EVs sales, no doubt. As will the iX5 we mentioned previously (pictured below). But the electric story is still going to be very different from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
