BERLIN – BMW car won’t scale on its own the battery produce cells for Electric Car Until the technology develops further, the German company said, taking a more cautious approach than some rivals despite record brand sales in 2021.
The automaker, which is also optimistic about hitting the top of its 9.5%-10.5% margin estimate for 2021, now buys battery cells from CATL, Samsung and Northvolt among those other, but is building its own pilot plant.
“We’ve secured our needs very well over the next few years with the partners we have,” Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter told Reuters, adding that BMW would be in no rush to scale up. produce their own cells.
“We are not yet at the point where we can say which technologies will be with us in the next 10-15 years,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important to invest resources with partners around the world to develop battery cells.”
Works council director Manfred Schoch has pushed BMW to increase battery output to secure supplies and create jobs.
Germany’s opponents Volkswagen and Daimler both have direct shares in battery manufacturers.
Daimler, which holds a 33% stake in the Automotive Company, said in July it planned to build eight gigafactories for battery production with partners.
Volkswagen plans to build six cell plants in Europe by the end of the decade with partners such as Of China Gotion High-Tech and Northvolt, in which it has a 20% stake.
Mr. Peter said that BMW is working to build battery assembly sites at every plant but will rely on battery supply partners.
Output vs Margin
Shares of BMW rose to a six-year high of 99.3 euros after Reuters reported Peter’s comments, falling back to 98.9 shortly after, still slightly above the open for the day. is 97.7.
For the first time in five years, Daimler will become the premium manufacturer with the highest number of vehicles sold in 2021, with 2.21 million vehicles compared to Daimler’s 2.05 million.
Daimler CEO Ola Kaellenius said high deliveries were not a priority in his opinion, preferring to raise prices and increase profits rather than maximize the number of vehicles sold.
BMW, has kept output high amid global chip shortage Due in part to close relationships with suppliers, margins are a bit more conservative than rivals including Daimler and Volkswagen of Audi, which project margins of 9%-11% next year. 2021.
However, Peter said the transition to tram is growing faster than BMW had expected two to three years ago, with sales more than doubling last year and bookings stronger than ever.
The spokesman said BMW, which was early to enter the electric vehicle space but whose portfolio is currently lagging a number of competitors, plans to add an additional Saturday shift at the plant. in Munich since April to meet demand, a spokesman said.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Christina Amann; Editing by Edmund Blair and Mark Potter)
