The CEO of BMW, Oliver Zipse, has criticized a premature exit from combustion engines and warned of the consequences.
Munich - The Munich-based car manufacturer BMW has opposed existing plans to prematurely ban cars with internal combustion engines and warned of the resulting consequences.
CEO Oliver Zipse spoke on Wednesday morning at the Auto Summit of the
Handelsblatt
about a possible ban and shared the position of the BMW Group: "We believe this is harmful to the climate," said the 57-year-old.
BMW boss Zipse criticizes premature combustion ban - "We think too short here"
With his criticism, Zipse reacts to the events at the world climate summit in Glasgow on Wednesday.
There, around 30 countries, together with the world's leading vehicle manufacturers, have agreed to stop selling cars with combustion engines by 2040 at the latest.
Germany had refrained from signing the declaration and gave the “result of the government's internal examination” as justification.
In any case, the federal government and the BMW leadership seem to be pulling together in the rejection.
"This is too short a thought," warned Zipse and advocated that Germany, as an industrialized country, should continue to invest in research into internal combustion engines.
A simple ban on cars with internal combustion engines would mean, however, that "we will not develop a technology that we will still need in 2035," the 57-year-old explained.
Ban on burners harmful to the climate?
BMW boss Zipse criticizes
With the i4 and the iX, BMW has just launched two new fully electric models and plans to expand the range of e-cars even further in the coming years.
Although BMW wants to further increase investments in electromobility in the future, the group sees a market for combustion engines beyond 2030.
According to Zipse, a ban could also be harmful to the climate because stopping the sale of combustion engines would not necessarily result in better electromobility.
"A ban does not mean that an offer for charging infrastructure is created," predicts the BMW boss.
Rather, consumers would start driving their old cars with internal combustion engines for as long as possible.
Even beyond 2030: BMW wants to continue developing and selling internal combustion engines
Zipse had already commented critically in June on the step taken by competitor Audi to discontinue the development of internal combustion engines from 2026 and warned against an entrepreneurial shrinking course.
BMW plans that half of the cars sold in 2030 will be powered by an electric motor.
(fd)
