BMW delays electric car mass production until 2020 for cost reasons

Thomson Reuters

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - BMW has held back the mass rollout of electric cars until 2020 because current fourth generation electric car technology is not profitable enough for volume production, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said.

"We wanted to wait for the fifth generation to be much more cost competitive," Krueger said speaking to analysts in Munich on Thursday. "We do not want to scale up with the fourth generation," Krueger explained.

The cost advantage between BMW's fourth and fifth generation electric vehicle technology amounts to a "two digit number," Krueger said.

"If you want to win the race, you must be the most cost competitive in the segment, otherwise you cannot scale up the volume," Krueger said.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Tom Sims)

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