GENEVA —Top automakers are vowing not to give up on weak-selling electric vehicles — even as they unveil an array of powerful luxury cars with conventional engines aimed at a growing global market.
BMW AG CEO Norbert Reit hofer said Tuesday at the Geneva International Motor Show that his company cannot do without battery-powered vehicles such as its i3 urban compact.
“In the future, electric drive vehicles will be in demand,” he said, adding that the Munich-based automaker could not meet its targets to reduce emissions without them.
Only about 75,000 of the 12.5 million vehicles sold last year in Europe were electrics or hybrids. Still, auto companies have sunk billions of dollars into developing alternative propulsion vehicles over the long term because of government requirements to limit vehicle emissions. The European Union requires companies to average 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer for their new cars by 2021, down from a limit of 130 grams per kilometer this year.
