On March 9, BMW Group released its financial results for 2022. Total revenue for the year surpassed 142.6 billion euros, an increase of 28.2% from the previous year. The total number of automobiles sold was 2,399,632 units. Pure electric model sales increased 107.7% from the previous year to 215,752 units, accounting for 9% of the whole group’s global sales. BMW intends to implement an all-electric strategy by 2023, with the goal of increasing the proportion of pure electric models in total sales to 15%.
BMW’s investment on R&D reached 6.624 billion euros in 2022, a 5.2% increase over the previous year. The funds will be used in two ways: First, new models are being developed, as is the sixth generation of BMW eDrive electric drive technology. Second, there is the digital realm, specifically artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, human-computer interaction, and other aspects.
At the same time, BMW Group is also continuing to transform and upgrade its global production system to support the rapid development of its electric vehicle business. The company’s expenditure on plants, equipments, and fixed assets reached 7.791 billion euros in 2022, a 55.4% increase year on year. These investments include a number of new and upgraded projects around the world, including the construction of a new Debrecen plant in Hungary and major upgrades to existing plants in Germany, Mexico, and the United States.
Last year, BMW released the BMW iFACTORY production strategy, which is BMW’s overall plan for future automobile production, establishing a new production concept in the era of electric intelligence. Following that, more than 30 BMW factories around the world will implement the BMW iFACTORY’s transformation and upgrading production strategy.
BMW has established its largest R&D team outside of Germany in China. BMW China’s R&D system will also be upgraded this year in order to better align with Chinese innovation forces in digital and electrification. BMW’s Shenyang production facility is also fully committed to electrification. BMW Brilliance Dadong Factory’s product upgrade project was completed in April 2022. In June, the large-scale upgrade project of BMW Brilliance production base (Lida Plant) officially opened. BMW Brilliance announced the launch of a new power battery project in November, with a total investment of approximately 10 billion yuan, to further enhance the local production capacity of power batteries.
According to Ziptzer said, chairman of the BMW Group, “the success of the BMW Group in 2022 was made possible by two crucial factors: a strong and dedicated staff team and an aspirational product selection. These two crucial factors are what help us remain composed under pressure. Statistics have shown that we can only actively tackle obstacles and go forward with determination if we have guts, persistence, and flexibility. We are confident that the future of the BMW Group will be even brighter.”