Almost one out of five new cars sold by BMW Group is an EV

The BMW Group delivered 109,516 all-electric cars in the first quarter, an increase of 32.4% and an 18.7% share of total deliveries. Electric car sales increased in Europe in particular. And more than one in three vehicles delivered by the Mini brand was purely electric.

Across all drive types, the BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce brands delivered 586,149 vehicles (-1.4%) between January and March, bringing the share of electric cars to 18.7% in the first quarter.

By comparison, in Q1 2024, only 82,7000 electric BMWs were delivered, accounting for 13.9% of all manufacturer deliveries. In Europe, the BMW Group achieved growth in electric cars of 64.2%, ten times higher than across all drive types (+6.2%).

Technology-open strategy

The BMW brand sold 520,142 units worldwide in the first quarter of 2025, 86,449 of which were purely electric (+9.9%). Therefore, the BMW brand’s electric car share was 16.6%.

The Mini brand, which revamped its entire portfolio last year, sold 64,626 units worldwide (+4.1%) and grew primarily with electric cars: in the first quarter, the brand recorded a BEV share of 35.3%.

BMW Group does not provide exact BEV data for Rolls-Royce (1,381 deliveries, -9.4%).

BMW also states that 157,495 vehicles delivered in the first quarter were ‘electrified,’ which the Munich-based company summarises as BEV and PHEV. With 109,516 fully electric cars, 47,979 plug-in hybrids were delivered in Q1. In the same period a year ago, there were 39,916 part-time electric vehicles, so sales have increased slightly again.

“The BMW Group’s technology-open strategy is proving successful. Our products are winning over customers worldwide across all drive technologies, with positive momentum driven, particularly by the new Mini models, especially the fully electric variants. One in three Minis sold in Europe and more than one out of every two sold in China were fully electric,” said Jochen Goller, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands, Sales.

“We are feeling confident, thanks to significant growth in new orders across all drive technologies, particularly in our domestic market of Germany,” he added.

The BMW Group is set to reach two important milestones worldwide in 2025: First, a total of three million electrified vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs) released onto the roads since the launch of the BMW i3 and BMW i8, and, second, 1.5 million fully electric cars (BEVs) delivered to customers.

Asia is the problem child

The BMW brand increased deliveries across all sales regions except Asia. As mentioned, Europe’s growth overall was 6.2%; in the USA, BMW sold 4.1% more cars, and in the Americas, the gain was 5.4%.

On the contrary, total sales in Asia were 214,203 cars, a decrease of 12.2%, and in China, sales fell back to 155,195 units, a regress of 17.2%. This serious drawback was why total BMW sales decreased by 2% in Q1.

The capers of U.S. President Trump regarding import tariffs won’t do any good either. Even for a premium group like BMW, the volatility and unpredictability of the current automotive sector are a cause for concern.