BMW boss warns EU against abandoning internal combustion engine cars

As part of the 2024 Half-Year Report, BMW boss Oliver Zipse chastised the EU over the planned phase-out of combustion vehicles and punitive tariffs on cars from China.

By: Roland Hildebrandt

Published by: Brian Potter

Aug 3, 2024 at 4:25am ET

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BMW has presented its balance sheet figures for the first half of 2024. Consolidated profit before tax amounted to around €3.9 billion, corresponding to a Group EBIT margin of 10.5%. In the first half of the year, BMW Group sales worldwide remained at the previous year's level.

The BMW brand achieved worldwide growth of 2.3%, or 6.2% if we exclude the Chinese market. The drivers of global growth were all-electric vehicles and models in the premium segment, both of which achieved double-digit growth.

Gallery: BMW X3 20 xDrive (2024)

BMW X3 20 xDrive (2024)

So far, so good. But BMW boss Oliver Zipse also took advantage of the presentation of the figures to make a few remarks to the EU.

"I have often stressed that following media hype without thinking is not a strategy. What's more, emotion and nervousness are not and never have been good advisors."

"The most effective contribution to climate protection is the one we make today. In other words, every tonne of CO2 we save today and not just in the future. To achieve this, we also need to demand and promote the use of low-CO2 fuels such as e-fuels, E25 or HVO100, as quickly as possible and on a large scale."

According to the CEO, these fuels would immediately improve the CO2 balance of the existing fleet of over 250 million vehicles in the EU.

"For the time being, we see above all the risk of e-fuels being used as a political tool in the debate on banning combustion engines from 2035. At the moment, everything suggests that the European Commission is looking for a false solution, in which the ban on combustion engines is softened by a supposed opening up to e-fuels."

"If it does nothing to accelerate the uptake of low-CO2 fuels and make their use practicable, this would amount to a deliberate ban on combustion vehicles by the back door."

"We continue to believe that an outright ban on combustion technology is a mistake. And we publicly defend our high-efficiency engines and plug-in hybrid technology, such as that used in our new BMW X3, for example."