BMW showcased the Vision Neue Klasse electric car at the IAA Motor Show in Munich, Germany. It underpins BMW’s aggressive push into electric vehicles.
BMW
Munich Germany– BMW and mercedes benz It is making a big push into electric vehicles to fend off growing competition from Chinese players and catch up with the U.S. giants tesla.
Over the past few days, the auto giant has unveiled an electric concept car and a new platform for future battery-powered cars as part of the IAA Mobility Motor Show in Munich, Germany.
European automakers are believed to be behind Chinese companies such as Warren Buffett’s BYD and Elon Musk’s Tesla, but they must act quickly to show the market that they are ready to be leaders of the electric age. The main participants.
On Sunday, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the CLA Concept, an electric car based on a new architecture that will underpin the German auto giant’s future battery cars. The company says the concept car has a range of 750 kilometers (466 miles), and can go 400 kilometers on a 15-minute charge.
Mercedes chief executive Ola Kallenius hailed the car, calling it a “revolutionary development” for the German company.
“I don’t know of any vehicle in this class that can come close to that in terms of those efficiency numbers, that kind of range, that kind of fast charging,” Conlinson told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Sunday.
On Saturday, rival BMW showed off another electric concept car, the “Vision Neue Klasse,” underscoring the company’s EV ambitions. Neue Klasse is BMW’s new architecture for electric vehicles. The first vehicles based on the platform are expected to enter production in 2025.
In an interview with CNBC, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said: “In just two years’ time, these cars will be on the road and, overall, we will lead BMW into innovation and sustainability. A new era. That’s what we are here at the IAA show.” Arabil Gumede.
BMW will double its EV sales this year, Zipse said. By the end of 2023, 15 percent of BMW’s global sales will be battery electric vehicles, he added.
Dedicated EV platforms from Mercedes and BMW differ from previous architectures in that they will use internal combustion engines or hybrid models and add batteries. It’s the two companies’ biggest push yet for a new platform for the electric-mobility era.
Analysts said the announcements by Mercedes and BMW were significant moves but could still lag Tesla.
“Mercedes and BMW’s new platforms show for the first time what European OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are capable of. These cars may still be a year away, but their specs suggest European OEMs will be able to create compelling products ,” Daniel Roeska, senior research analyst at Bernstein Research, told CNBC via email.
These new platforms “will close a large part of the gap between Tesla and Chinese companies,” Roska said, “but not all of it.”
Price war in focus
BMW and Mercedes are making further inroads into an increasingly competitive electric vehicle market dominated by Tesla and various Chinese companies.
Tesla had a 20 percent share of the global electric vehicle market in the second quarter, followed by BYD with a 15 percent share, according to Counterpoint Research.
Competition has intensified due to the price war sparked by Tesla. The U.S. automaker cut prices starting in 2023 and has vowed to sacrifice margins in the short term for market share.
Mercedes and BMW have both dabbled in the premium segment, competing with vehicles like Tesla’s Model S and Model X. As Mercedes prepares to introduce more electric vehicles in the coming years, they insist its focus is not on expanding sales.
Kang Linsong said: “We don’t pursue sales, we focus on value rather than sales.”
Meanwhile, VW’s strategy appears to be to launch cars at different price points to capture different market segments.
The company announced on Sunday that it will introduce 11 new all-electric models by 2027, underscoring its EV push. Volkswagen has said it plans to launch the ID. 2all, an electric car priced at less than 25,000 euros ($26,942), in 2026.
The German auto giant showed off the ID. The GTI concept electric car was unveiled at the IAA show and says a production version of the car is scheduled to hit the road in 2027.
Tesla and China dominate tech
In a world where batteries power cars, it’s not just the design of the car or the engine that wins over consumers. Technology becomes more and more important.
“Premium EVs now need to be more smartphone-like than traditional cars to offer a Tesla-like experience — the gold standard for EVs and its vertically integrated platform,” Counterpoint said in a report last week.
In fact, Tesla’s business is built on controlling the hardware (the car itself) as well as the software inside the car. Musk often talks about the company’s Autopilot feature, which allows cars to perform some driving functions autonomously. Tesla’s large interior screen and apps make it feel more like using a smartphone.
Many Chinese automakers, including upstarts Xpeng and Nioh It also touts its semi-autonomous driving capabilities.
At the IAA conference, established players have also been talking up their technological prowess to show that they too can rival Tesla and Chinese start-ups.
BMW, for example, says its Vision Neue Klasse EV features a head-up display that projects information onto the driver’s windshield.
BMW CEO Zipse said the Vision Neue Klass represented the “biggest investment” in the “digital side” of a car, including semiconductors.
“It’s a completely digital feel to the car,” Zipse said.
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