2024 was a good year for the BMW Group’s EV portfolio. The automotive conglomerate sold 426,536 BMWs, MINIs, and Rolls-Royces without a combustion engine, an increase of 13.5% over the previous year. Purely electric vehicles had a 17.4% market share in total deliveries. However, there was one model for which demand significantly worsened versus 2023.
Yes, we’re talking about the iX. BMW moved only 38,365 units of the large electric SUV, a 24.8% decrease compared to 2023. It’s tricky to pinpoint the reasons why sales dropped so abruptly, but we can make a few educated guesses. Competition has never been this strong in the EV segment, especially if we’re talking strictly about big SUVs.
You could argue that the iX was starting to feel stale. Three years on the market might not seem like much, but consider how many large electric SUVs have launched in that time. Perhaps some buyers deliberately held off on their purchase, waiting for BMW to release the facelifted iX. The LCI premiered in late January, with the first shipments scheduled for the second quarter of 2025.
While the styling hasn’t changed all that much, there are major upgrades underneath the skin. With up to 701 kilometers (435 miles) in the WLTP cycle, the iX now has the longest range among all of BMW Group’s EV models. However, it’s only a temporary title since the Neue Klasse iX3 will go even farther, once it debuts in early September.
As BMWBLOG previously reported, the iX could be a one-and-done affair. BMW is unlikely to develop a second generation. Instead, we’ve heard it intends to replace the polarizing EV with an iX5. The next-gen X5 (G65) is rumored to get the zero-emission treatment while staying on the CLAR platform. BMW is working on giving the X6 (G66) and X7 (G67) purely electric derivatives as well.
The G65 will allegedly go into production in August 2026. However, according to sources close to Munich, the iX won’t be retired until June 2028. This would mean the iX5 and iX will peacefully coexist for about two years.
Source: BMW
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
Source: BMW BLOG
