Auto-industry executives long complained that electric cars aren't as profitable as their combustion-engine counterparts. BMW AG Chief Executive Officer Oliver Zipse says those days are over.
All of BMW's electric models are earning money, and the company's 'Neue Klasse' battery-powered vehicles due from 2025 will be even more profitable, Zipse said Saturday.
"The assumption that margins of combustion-engine cars are always higher is simply wrong," he told reporters at an event ahead of the IAA car show in Munich.
BMW earlier Saturday unveiled the first prototype of its future Neue Klasse line, which is meant to help the German automaker challenge Tesla Inc. and defend sales in its most important market China.
The luxury-car maker is growing in China and is selling twice as many fully electric cars there as rival brands Mercedes-Benz and Audi combined, Zipse said. He added that BMW isn't affected by the country's price war because of its positioning in the premium segment.
"We have a solid foundation in the Chinese marketplace," the CEO said in a separate interview with Bloomberg Television. "We will never go down to a volume segment just to push volume "- because we don't need to."
