(Reuters) – BMW expects at least half of its sales to be zero emission vehicles by 2030, setting a more conservative target than some rivals in the race to embrace cleaner driving.<\/p>\n
In the short term, the German carmaker forecast on Wednesday a big rise in pretax profit for this year, with a strong performance in all areas – from MINIS through its upmarket BMW brand to top-of-the-range Rolls-Royces.<\/p>\n
Its shares rose as much as 4.9% to a 2-1\/2 year high of 84.42 euros, buoyed by its forecast for a strong recovery from a pandemic-hit 2020.<\/p>\n
Bernstein analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said BMW had entered 2021 \u201cvery confidently.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of electromobility, BMW is making good progress and is taking significantly fewer risks than VW,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Volkswagen has said it expects 70% of European sales at its core VW brand to be electric by 2030 and this week unveiled ambitious plans to expand in electric driving – including building half a dozen battery cell plants in Europe – sending its shares sharply higher.<\/p>\n
BMW said around 90% of its market categories would have fully-electric models available by 2023 and the electric BMW i4 would be launched three months ahead of schedule this year.<\/p> The carmaker said its MINI brand would be fully electric \u201cby the early 2030s\u201d and electric models would account for at least 50% of group deliveries by 2030.<\/p>\n When asked if BMW could set a date for ending sales of internal combustion engines, as some rivals have, Chief Technology Officer Frank Weber said: \u201cit\u2019s not us who decides on the end of the internal combustion engine, but it\u2019s the markets.\u201d<\/p>\n In an industry chasing electric carmaker Tesla and facing tightening CO2 emissions standards in Europe and China, some automakers have promised a faster shift in technology, despite the huge costs and manufacturing changes involved.<\/p>\n Sweden\u2019s Volvo said this month its lineup would be fully electric by 2030, and Ford said in February its lineup in Europe would be too.<\/p>\n Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars in the European Union almost trebled to over 1 million vehicles in 2020 and accounted for more than 10% of overall sales, taking zero-emission models from niche products into the mainstream.<\/p>\n Chief Executive Oliver Zipse told a news conference that BMW could accelerate its plans if consumers embraced electric models more quickly than expected.<\/p>\n \u201cShould demand in certain markets shift completely to fully electric vehicles in the coming years – we can deliver,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Last week, BMW said 2021 had started well after its profit recovered in the second half of 2020 from pandemic shutdowns, thanks largely to strong sales in China.<\/p>\n For this year, it expects an operating profit (EBIT) margin of 6%-8% after 2.7% in 2020.<\/p>\n Volkswagen said this week its 2021 operating margin should be at the upper end of its 5%-6.5% target range, with a goal of 7%-8% by 2025.<\/p>\n