By
Svetlana Soroka
April 18th, 2024
Since Tesla issued its Model 3 ultra-fast electric car, BMW has started taking pressure on the luxury-level sedan market. People used to buy BMW when they wanted their sedan to be the best in the neighborhood.
The German car manufacturer BMW describes the new i4 EV design as ‘crisp, smooth lines and taut volumes merge into a rich, smoothly contoured sculpture and create a clear surfacing language’.
BMW Motoren Werke AG (ETR: BMW3) understands that the future is slowly coming, so they decide to present a beautiful i4 car working on electricity. Also, the company is preparing an SUV-sized iNEXT model for the release in 2021. The new cars will facilitate sport looking design. The aerodynamics will make air opposition extremely low, helping the inner batteries of the car. It features a 390 kW eDrive motor, that can accelerate the vehicle to 60 miles per second in 4 seconds. The battery can store energy enough to drive around 373 miles without additional charge.
It’s About the Environment, Not Tesla
Nowadays, many European companies seek to deliver products that won’t make much garbage after using them. There are already islands of plastic bags and bottles swimming in the world oceans. And oil industry chemical and even nuclear waste are hidden on the bottom of many oceans. European lawmakers understand that Western civilization cannot bloat Mother Nature forever. That’s why they recently introduced a broad range of laws. Now, car manufacturers must adapt their products to fit those laws. This is presumably the major reason behind BMW saying ‘No’ to the oil.
However, Tesla as a competitor isn’t a smaller reason. Since Tesla Model 3 appeared in Europe in 2019, the sedan became the fifth best selling car in its niche. Audi A4 and BMW’s 3 series are left behind on their own lands.
Interestingly, despite several big announcements BMW stock keeps losing value in recent weeks. The coronavirus attack may turn to be a much bigger problem for BMW than Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) inception. Now, German people have to fight both Elon Musk‘s marketing department and coronavirus fears. It is somewhat an uneasy task compared to what they had to face in the bright monopoly past.
Coronavirus Interferes Car Shows in Europe
Geneva Motor Show is canceled because people are worried about coronavirus spreading in Europe. There were no such cancellations in the last 70 years of German history. BMW managers wanted to show the new car design and functionality during the canceled show. That’s why they had to change plans. BMW decided to perform a live-streamed presentation in Munich instead.
Oliver Zipse, who works as CEO at BMW, claims that Tesla Model 3 is not the reason behind the new electric model’s inception. It’s all about ‘BMW genes’:
“We took the 3-series GT and the 4-series Gran Coupe put them together, and came up with this concept while keeping a sporty design. With that, it’s got the typical BMW genes that you wouldn’t see in any other car.”
Selling Electric BMWs in America: Not So Fast
BMW sedans always had good sales in the U.S., but Tesla Model 3 changed the landscape. Tesla sales overcame Mercedes C-Class and BMW 3 series combined. However, the BMW, Audi, and Mercedez-Benz are three companies that seem like trying to intercept Tesla’s rapid success. Despite Mercedez is planning to roll out a new compact SUV too, they claim that it is happening because of the plans to ‘quadruple‘ the number of plug-in hybrids:
“This company is going to change fundamentally, we will work 24/7 to make this happen, to make this somewhat of a turning point.”
Volkswagen AG said on Tuesday that they want to aggressively move into the electric car business. They show a prototype of an electric SUV that will replace ID.3 hatchback presented earlier. Despite German car manufacturers have some troubles with delivering the electric car parts to the U.S., they are not leaving the intent to conquer the market back.