Handelsblatt Auto summit: BMW sees itself well positioned with Elektrostrategie in the USA

BMW manager Oliver Zipse

“You have to accept the primacy of politics.”

(Photo: Uta Wagner for Handelsblatt)

Wolfsburg is relaxed BMWProduction Manager Oliver Zipse on the Handelsblatt car summit, Because the manager knows: In the discussion about tariffs and added value with the US government has BMW good arguments.

“Long before the issue of tariffs came up, we made our way to the United States made, “says Zipse. This is generally enterprise policy. The decision to operate in a large economic area is always accompanied by the development of production structures. “That’s exactly what we did in China,” says Zipse.

The BMW managers have expectations that are correspondingly low hanged on the meeting with the US government, While Daimler and Volkswagen have sent their CEOs to Washington, has sent BMW CFO Nicolas Peter to the talks. “We have already done certain things. You have to accept the primacy of politics, “explains Zipse.

With “things” Zipse means the clear signals that CEO Harald Krüger had sent in the week before from the auto show in Los Angeles in the direction of the White House, as he a new US plant in prospect, South Carolina is already preparing for the expansion.

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With the new model X7 BMW then comes to 450,000 units in its US plant. Added to this is the plant in Mexico, so that BMW wants to come in 2021 to 600,000 cars in North America. The investment of several hundred million euros for an engine plant is expected to be fast, calculates in Munich – and thus takes the wind out of the sails of Trump.

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Bayern also have good maps in the USA with their electric car strategy. “We thought about urban mobility in 2007 and put the I3 on ​​the market,” says the production manager. The advance came early and cost BMW a lot of money. “But the model sells better year after year,” says Zipse.

And the Bavarians continue to provide electricity: In 2020, the IX3 will be the electric off-road vehicle, followed by an I4 one year later. In the automotive transformation, BMW relies on flexibility. As the only manufacturer, the Group not only builds different models on the same line, but also with all drive types – even if this entails additional costs. “If you do that intelligently, then you do not need separate structures,” says Zipse.

And BMW also sees itself well in the race for the second future topic, autonomous driving: “At the end of this year, we will be testing a fleet of 70 cars in Germany“Put Israel and the US on the streets.” But it’s more about security than speed. Only when customers trusted technology did they accept driverless driving. “No one jumps off a parachute if he does not know 100 percent that he’s going to be up.”

With the gradual introduction of the assistance systems BMW develops this confidence. 2021 should be the first time a car on the market with the “iNext”, which largely manages without drivers at least on highways.

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