Selling cars in Europe is harder than basically anywhere else in the world. Automakers must comply with increasingly strict fleet-emissions regulations. If not, they risk hefty fines for missing the targets mandated by the 27 EU members, plus Norway and Iceland. In the BMW Group’s case, the threshold last year was 92.9 grams of CO₂ per kilometer under the WLTP cycle.
That proved to be no issue at all. The company estimates its fleet emissions came in at the nice round figure of 90.0 grams. As the share of EVs and plug-in hybrids continues to rise, fleet-wide emissions are naturally trending downward. For perspective, the BMW Group’s average stood at a much higher 135 grams per kilometer in 2020.
Given the early success the new iX3 is enjoying, 2026 should be a walk in the park for BMW. The Neue Klasse SUV is already nearly sold out in Europe for this year, even with 11 months still to go. To reduce wait times, a second shift will be added at the Debrecen plant in Hungary earlier than originally planned.
Even without the iX3, the BMW Group (including MINI and Rolls-Royce) sold more than 202,000 EVs across the EU, Norway, and Iceland last year. About 26.3% of total vehicles sold in the region lacked a combustion engine. Year-over-year demand for EVs jumped by 28.2% in Europe. When plug-in hybrids are included, electrified models accounted for more than 40% of total shipments across the 29 countries.
While the iX3 is a key part of the story for 2026, several other EVs are on the way. From a volume standpoint, the i3 sedan will be the most important, although production won’t begin until the second half of the year. That means its full impact on sales won’t be felt until 2027. The same applies to the first-ever iX5 and the i7 facelift, both scheduled for 2026. It hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but the iX4 is also expected to debut this year.
Looking ahead, the BMW Group is confident that fully electric vehicles will surpass a 50% share of global annual shipments by the end of the decade. There’s still a long road ahead, however, as EVs accounted for just 18% worldwide in 2025. The influx of Neue Klasse models, including cheaper i1 and i2 models, should significantly boost demand. Even so, reaching the 50% mark in just a few years will be a huge challenge.
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
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