BMW North America has partnered with Scenic America, a national non-profit organization, to plant 25 trees for every test drive of an electric vehicle (EV) taken at participating dealerships. The “Trees for Test Drives” campaign will run from April 18 to May 1, coinciding with Earth Day on April 22. These trees will be planted in areas across North America that have been ravaged by wildfires.
In other news, BMW reports that sales of fully electric vehicles accounted for 8% of total deliveries in the United States during the first quarter of the year, totaling 6,588 units. Currently, only the i4, i7, and iX models are available locally, as the company has decided against bringing the iX1 and iX3 crossovers to the US market. Additionally, the i3 Sedan is exclusively sold in China. The upcoming i5, teased below, will join the lineup later this year as an electric counterpart to the next-generation 5 Series Sedan.
When considering sales of plug-in hybrid models like the 330e, 530e, and the X5 xDrive45e (to be replaced by the xDrive50e for 2024), BMW states that electrified vehicles accounted for nearly 17% of US sales in Q1 2023. The recently launched XM model is also a plug-in hybrid, but its high starting price of $159,000 is expected to limit its sales potential.
BMW aims to sell at least one million fully electric vehicles by the end of the decade. To achieve this goal, the company plans to produce at least six SUVs on the Neue Klasse platform at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina by 2030. In the meantime, EV sales are projected to triple in 2023 compared to the previous year, with the upcoming i5 contributing to this growth. It remains to be seen whether the i5 Touring, which is set to launch in 2024, will be available in the US market as well.
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