BMW
B
lame The Jetsons and Back to the
Future for the ongoing desire
for cars to ly. It’ll be nice when
they do – and one day they will – but for
now it’s better to ground such hopes and
understand that the immediate future
of motoring is electric.
And driving this future is BMW. It’s
actually nothing new to the German outit
best known for engines and cars that are
considered, accessible and often exemplary.
Because they came out swinging in this
space seven years ago with the launch of
the ‘i’ brand – most notably the Tr o n-esque
‘i8’ supercar. (Seriously, drive this car if
you want to be noticed.)
It was a powerful statement and one the
company is quickly and keenly building
on – with irm, increased estimates about
the number of EVs that will inform its
sales portfolio in seven years from now.
Still, the marque understands that in
Australia work remains to be done before
the notion of plugging-in fully charges
the community with excitement. As it
stands, the sales of battery EV vehicles in
Australia sits at 0.1 per cent of the total
market (excluding Tesla as the company
doesn’t disclose sales igures). We’re
nostalgic petrol heads in need of greater
education about all things electric –
and we also need a government to stop
paying lip service and ride shotgun with
manufacturers to offer sales incentives
alongside the infrastructure required
in a country the size of ours.
Thankfully, BMW’s heading in the
right direction, as we ind out when
speaking to local CEO Marc Werner.GQ: What’s the BMW strategy for
increasing the presence of EVs?
Marc Werner: For us, the future of
mobility is clearly electric. It’s why we
launched the ‘i’ brand and have since
launched a number of hybrid vehicles –
across the 3, 5, 7 Series and the ‘X5’ –
with other derivatives coming shortly and
a plan to have, by 2025, 25 EVs in our
product portfolio. And the electric vehicle
strategy is a global strategy, not just one
we roll out in Europe or the US or here.
GQ: Let’s be honest, the uptake here
is currently rather dire.MW: In terms of talking about the success
of electriication, yes, it greatly differs
from market to market and region to
region – and EVs in Australia are not
as popular as we see them in other
parts of the world, that is true.
GQ: It feels like a complete cultural
redress is needed as a jumping-off
point, before we even get into the
government’s inaction on
infrastructure and sales incentives?
MW: Yes, there are a number of things
here – the irst is the policy and the
incentives that are not in place. What
we’ve seen in other markets – Norway,
the Netherlands, Thailand, Malaysia
and recently NZ – is that if the
government puts in place a very clear
electric vehicle strategy or road map,
with targets and incentives for customers
to purchase this technology, then
EV sales really ly. And yes, this is
something that is missing here in
Australia at this point in time.
GQ: It must be frustrating for someone
in your position?
MW: I wouldn’t say it’s disappointing, as
I see it as part of the job to lobby and push
the regulator in the right direction. And
we continue to do that and speak to the
right people on the state and federal level
and even on a local level and it’s important
to know that we’re being heard. It’s just
taking a long time – we could certainly
learn a lot from our friends across the
ditch in New Zealand.
GQ: Surely educating the consumer is
a major foundation in all of this too?
MW: I couldn’t agree more – it’s why we
decided to have a large leet of EVs in the
portfolio, so there’s enough choice. Also,
four years ago we made a decision to have
EVs available in all our dealerships. Rather
than going on an exclusive approach,
we decided to make the tech more
mainstream and have it available at the
point of sale. I’m happy to say that it’s
something that’s worked in creating
awareness and having test-drive
opportunities available for people.
GQ: What’s the usual response from
someone first driving electric?
MW: What we see is them being very
excited when they get out of the car,out in the next few months – so that
BMW and others can utilise the existing
infrastructure that’s out there.
GQ: Mobility provider – it’s a phrase we
hear a lot these days in this context.
What does this look like at BMW?
MW: The vision is to become the
‘premium mobility provider’, as we call
it internally. And that means that our
business model, in a couple of years,
will need to change. Because we know the
younger generation do not necessarily
want to own a vehicle; market research
shows they don’t necessarily want to own
a vehicle, but they do want to drive a car.
So we need to provide solutions here. WORDS: RICHARD CLUNE.