BMW expects to cut average emissions in Europe by 20% this year

MUNICH — BMW will continue to grow sales globally while at the same time lowering its European average emissions of carbon dioxide by around 20% this year, Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said on Thursday.

Carmakers need to lower their output of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, but carmakers have struggled to meet stricter emissions goals as clients increasingly choose to buy heavier sports utility vehicles.

“The fleet average emissions will go down significantly in 2020, by around 20%,” Peter told journalists at a roundtable discussion in Munich. BMW’s fleet average emissions were 128 grams per kilometer in 2018, and just below that in 2019, he said.

In 2020, BMW’s fleet average emissions will be just over 100 grams per kilometer and the carmaker will meet the emissions standards for 2021, thanks to higher sales of electrified vehicles and more efficient combustion engines, he said.

Peter reiterated that BMW expected to grow sales in 2020.

“We have started well into January and grew sales in China,” Peter said, adding that the carmaker had sold around 175,000 cars in January.

Reporting by Joern Poltz.

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