LoginBMW’s First Million EVs Took 11 Years. The Second Took Two
- BMW Group hits two million EVs just two years after first million.
- More important EVs coming through include i3 electric 3-Series.
- Europe leads growth but US, China slowdown hurts momentum.
The BMW Group has just built its two millionth fully electric car, and the speed of that climb is impressive. It took almost 11 years after the first i3 hatch rolled off the line in 2013 to reach the first million, then only about two more to double it.
The milestone car is a BMW i5 M60 xDrive, built in Germany and heading to a buyer in Spain. That destination says a lot, because Europe is leading the way when it comes to EV demand right now. Sales of fully electric cars in the region jumped 28 percent in 2025, and one in every five cars sold in the EU is now an EV.
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Production is ramping fast to accommodate that growth. BMW now builds EVs at all its German plants and mixes them with combustion cars on the same lines. That flexibility lets it react as demand shifts, and lately, demand has been shifting quite a bit, because Europe’s love for EVs isn’t mirrored in other regions.
Globally, BMW delivered 442,072 EVs in 2025, a modest increase that shows growth is still happening, just not at the same pace as before. Because in the United States, BMW’s EV momentum has clearly cooled. Battery electric sales fell to 42,484 units in 2025, down 16.7 percent year over year.
The drop was even sharper late in the year, with fourth quarter EV sales plunging 45.5 percent after federal EV tax credits were axed. At the same time, plug-in hybrids surged more than 30 percent, showing where buyers are heading. China isn’t helping either. Sales there dropped significantly, with the region down double digits overall, dragging on global performance.
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But on the plus side, BMW has just begun to roll out fresh EV product with cutting-edge design and technology. The iX3, the first of BMW’s Neue Klasse cars, is already in showrooms, and the i3 electric 3-Series that debuted this spring won’t be far behind. And it’ll be followed by the first-ever electric X5, while Rolls-Royce has its own electric SUV on the way, although the sales numbers will obviously be modest.
That lineup should help keep BMW Group’s EV registrations growing, but it might struggle to keep pace with another big German automaker. VW recently announced it had made its 2 millionth EV only 10 months after rolling out its millionth, and with the ID.3 now much improved and the ID. Polo arriving at dealers soon, its next million could come even quicker.
