EVs, despite sales worries, are still hot at the big Munich auto show
Despite worries about electric vehicle adoption, EVs are still all the rage at one of the world’s biggest auto shows, IAA Munich, which started on Monday.
Volkswagen (VWAGY), the world’s second-largest automaker and now Europe’s largest EV seller, announced plans to push deeper into EVs with cheaper models. The company, for instance, unveiled the ID.CROSS concept, a compact crossover EV that will be available in Europe early next year.
The ID.CROSS is the third EV unveiled by VW at the show, following the ID.Polo (formerly the ID.2) and the sportier ID.Polo GTI. All three will be coming to the cheaper side of the EV market, with the CROSS coming in as the most affordable, around 25,000 euros ($29,300).
“We will be competitive, and right now, in Europe, for example, we are a market leader by far in electromobility with 28% market share. This family is another push to making this market share even bigger,” VW CEO Oliver Blume said in an interview with CNBC.
On the premium or luxury side of the market, BMW (BMW.DE) and Mercedes (MBGAF) announced new offerings in their drive to take on the midsize market, where Tesla once had a dominant grip but has now seen sales in Europe slide 33.6% through July of this year.
BMW, on its quest to launch 40 new EVs from its upcoming Neue Klass platform, unveiled the first production model to arrive — the iX3. The gas-powered X3 midsize SUV is a huge seller for BMW, and the Munich-based automaker feels the all-electric version will be big in Europe too.
BMW said the iX3 will target a nearly 500-mile range and charge 30% faster than current BMW EVs. The model will arrive in Europe first in 2026 and follow in the US and Canada in the summer.
BMW rival Mercedes showed off its next-generation GLC midsize SUV, in this case with EQ technology, meaning it’s fully electric.
The current gas-powered GLC is Mercedes’ top seller globally and hasn’t had an EV version since last year.
“It’s a massively important car,” Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius said at the GLC’s debut in Munich, per Automotive News.
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Mercedes is hedging its bets, however, claiming the new GLC will also be offered in gas and hybrid forms at a later date but that the new GLC will be “electric first.”
The all-electric GLC will have a target range of nearly 450 miles and is expected to cost slightly more than the $50,000 price tag of the current gas-powered GLC.
Across the halls of IAA, EV-brand Polestar (PSNY) announced an all-new four-door performance EV sedan, dubbed the Polestar 5. Porsche (P911.DE) electrified its world-beating 911 Turbo range with hybrid power in the all-new 911 Turbo S.
The EV onslaught in Munich comes as EVs face an uncertain future in the US — which is not new — but they also face headwinds in Europe.
Buyers on the continent embraced EVs as gas prices, nearly four times higher than in the US, and more charger availability meant going electric was easier. But heavy gas-powered car regulation and CO2 curbs meant European regulators wanted EVs to dominate the market faster than consumers wanted them — and European automakers have been complaining.
“We need a reality check. Otherwise, we are heading at full speed against a wall,” Mercedes’ Källenius said in August, adding that Europe’s car market could “collapse” if the EU’s gas-powered ban is approved after its review later this year. The EU is seeking to ban gas-powered car sales by 2035.
BWM CEO Oliver Zipse echoed those concerns last week, claiming the EU’s 2035 gas-powered ban was a “big mistake.”
Zipse told Politico that setting a fixed date for the transition risked ignoring emissions that can occur across the entire value chain, such as during battery production, and fuel sourcing.
Big Three automaker Stellantis (STLA), which is more European-focused than GM and Ford, said in Munich that it will no longer pursue its internal EV-only 2030 target for Europe. Per Reuters, Stellantis Europe boss Jean-Philippe Imparato also said the EU’s carbon emissions targets for 2035 were not achievable for any carmaker.
Europe’s top automakers are dealing a heavy dose of reality for EU regulators; however, it doesn’t mean they are retreating from the marketplace.
Europe’s top auto body, the ACEA, reported that in July, EV registrations in Europe jumped 33.6% and 11.1% for hybrid-electric cars year over year, while gas-powered car sales dropped 13.9%.
It seems that automakers in Europe are betting that EV sales will continue to rise, but not at the pace regulators hope for.
Pras Subramanian is the lead auto reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
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