Image: BMWBMW’s battery-electric vehicle deliveries lost momentum at the start of 2026. In the first quarter, the Munich-based manufacturer handed over 87,458 fully electric cars to customers – down significantly from 109,516 units in Q1 2025.Although BMW still managed to close full-year 2025 with more than 442,000 BEV deliveries, marking a slight year-on-year increase, the quarterly trend already showed signs of weakening. Even in the final quarter of 2025, the carmaker was unable to surpass its BEV sales from the same period a year earlier.The decline in the first quarter of 2026 thus marks the second consecutive drop in quarterly BEV deliveries, pointing to a cooling trajectory after previous growth.BMW attributes the decline in battery-electric vehicle deliveries to familiar headwinds also flagged by Volkswagen Group, which recently reported its first-quarter figures.In the United States, the phase-out of the EV tax credit removed a key purchase incentive, weighing on demand across the entire BEV market. At the same time, the situation in China proved similarly challenging: expiring subsidy programmes at the turn of the year put additional pressure on sales.Despite this, BMW underlines that its overall performance in China – across all drive types – held up comparatively well, outperforming a market that has recently seen a sharp decline.For the German carmaker, an additional factor is at play: BMW is currently transitioning between two major waves in its battery-electric vehicle lineup. For months, the company had no high-volume mid-range SUV on the market, as production of the old iX3 had ended and the highly anticipated successor—based on the Neue Klasse platform—has yet to be delivered.The new iX3 has only been officially available since March. For battery-electric mid-range saloons, the well-known i4 remains in production but is showing its age by modern battery-electric standards. BMW has already unveiled the new i3, featuring Neue Klasse technology from the iX3, but the high-volume model is not yet available for delivery—series production is set to begin in August.Nevertheless, customer interest in the iX3 is exceptionally high. In Europe, driven by the new iX3, BMW significantly increased its order intake for battery-electric vehicles: from January to March, orders rose by around 40 per cent compared to the same period last year. As a result, the Munich-based company described the quarter as a ‘successful market launch for Neue Klasse’ in its sales press release.“We are seeing exceptionally strong demand for the new BMW iX3. With well over 50,000 new orders since ordering opened in Europe, customer interest in the BMW iX3 is exceeding our high expectations. More than half of the BMW X3s ordered are already fully electric,” said Jochen Goller, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands, Sales. “The strong demand for the BMW iX3 underlines the quantum leap in technology we are making with the Neue Klasse. We are also receiving extremely positive feedback on the recently revealed second model of the Neue Klasse, the BMW i3.”Across all drive types, the BMW Group delivered 565,748 vehicles from its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands in the first quarter of 2026 – a decline of 3.5% year-on-year.Battery-electric vehicles accounted for 87,458 units, corresponding to a 15.5% share of total deliveries. Including plug-in hybrids, BMW Group reports 132,518 ‘electrified’ vehicles for the period, as it groups both drive types under this category.By subtraction, this leaves 45,060 plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), slightly below the 47,979 units recorded in the same quarter last year. BMW does not publish a more detailed breakdown of BEV deliveries by brand.Despite the declines in the first quarter, the Munich-based carmaker remains optimistic for the current year: “In an overall challenging market environment, the BMW Group was able to hold its ground well and is confident that the attractive, technology-neutral product portfolio as well as the worldwide availability of the Neue Klasse models will generate an increasingly positive momentum.”bmwgroup.com
