BMW R&D Investment for Electrification, CO2 Emissions Reductions and Self-Driving Tech Increased

Reuters reports of BMW Group’s plans to increase their investment in Electrification, CO2 Emissions Reductions and Self-Driving Tech. This is the next phase of BMW’s history. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Nicolas Peter confirmed that the company’s research and development budget will be rising as a percentage of the firm’s overall budget in order to help expedite the resolutions for challenges posed by a rapidly changing industry.

“Reducing CO2 emissions, electrifying engines, and autonomous driving are the key challenges for our industry over the next years,” Peter said in an interview with German outlet Boersen-Zeitung. He also revealed that R&D spending would account for about 6% of sales this year, up from 5.5% in 2016.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also pushing for larger automotive investments to be made in Germany, especially in the areas of battery cells manufacturing. Merkel said in her weekly podcast that “it would be desirable for Europe’s biggest economy to produce battery cells for electric cars locally and reduce dependency on Asian suppliers.”

“And if we are part of the research, also with regard to the prototypes, then I think it improves the outlook of bringing modern production of next-generation cells back to Europe and Germany,” she said.

There were less than 80,000 electric cars on German roads in 2016 and this is significantly below the expectations of the national government.