From BMW's long-term commitment to sustainability to the new role of dealers, from the semiconductor crisis to the pandemic, without missing a note to the European Union that "puts stakes on manufacturers, but must facilitate the construction of the necessary infrastructures ". ANSA was able to deal exclusively with Pieter Nota, a member of the Bmw Group Board of Directors with responsibility in the sales, customers and brands sector in a reserved room of the double helix showroom, is a wide-ranging speech. in the heart of Rome.
Impossible not to start from the financial results of BMW, communicated in the last few hours: revenues of 27.47 billion euros in the third quarter, despite the pandemic crisis, first, and that of the semiconductors, after.Beyond expectations.
"We too have lost something in production due to the chip crisis - admits Nota - but less than our direct competitors, managing the contingency better and remaining a leader in the premium sector. The good results - Nota explains - derive from a series of financial transactions, but above all from the strong demand for our products and from a wide and varied offer, which in the electrified models is giving us great satisfaction ". Therefore, it is natural to address the issue of the new engines, especially after the just concluded G20 and COP26 have put sustainability at the center of the work.
"BMW's commitment to the evolution of low-impact mobility is part of our strategy - he recalls - and for many years we have been investing in research and development. 2050 with a series of concrete actions in production. Our range, on the other hand, is totally declined to new generation engines, which are not just electric ones. We - he continues - are also investing in hydrogen. sale of the X5 Hydrogen Next SUV from next year, and we believe that hydrogen could be the future for powering large cars and vehicles. Not immediately, perhaps from 2026 onwards. But - he underlines - the problem is not only research.Infrastructure is the real bottleneck. Europe - underlines Nota - is asking manufacturers to reduce emissions, but must also make it possible to build the necessary charging infrastructures. "And remember that by 2023 there will be a fully electric BMW Group vehicle in every segment of the range.
The electric declination of BMW continues at full speed, not only for the main brand, but also for Mini and Rolls-Royce. "Mini, since its inception, has been a point of reference, an icon of the automotive sector. For 20 years - he continues - it has been part of the BMW 'family', and its glorious history has been further enriched. Now, precisely because of its peculiarity, it will become the Group's first all-electric brand from 2030. In 2025 they will arrive in new models ".
The fate of Rolls-Royce is different, but not too much: even the British super-luxury brand, in the Munich Group since 2003, is preparing for the switch-off. In recent weeks, the launch of Specter was announced for 2023, the first fully plug-powered car under the 'Spirit of Ecstasy' banner. And, clearly, it allows the most noble of global brands to cross a threshold from which it is not expected to return. "It is - underlines Nota - only the beginning for Rolls-Royce, which from 2030 will be electric only: a product that maintains the luxury standard, combined with new and unparalleled driving comfort".
"All this - Nota tells us again - is part of a unitary perspective of the BMW Group: that of anticipating the future, keeping up with the evolution of the sector. And the iVision circular concept presented last September is so called because it concretizes the our vision of a sustainability that looks far ahead ".
Finally, a passage on the showroom that hosts us: a global experiment.
Not a classic car showroom, but a totally digital place, devoted to electric, where specialists - that's exactly what they call them - welcome the buyer and not only help him in 'tailor-made' their car according to use, needs. , of the possibilities, but they also make it 'seen' in an environment carpeted with megascreen, in the most real way possible and almost life-size.
Of course, the classic test drive is also available.
Then, only later, we arrive at the purchase.
"It is the future of sales - concludes Nota - which combines hi-tech with 'human touch'. And BMW, as you can see, neglects nothing".