The Munich-based car manufacturer BMW wants to significantly increase the proportion of all-electric vehicles this year.

Head of Sales Pieter Nota announced on Wednesday via the career network LinkedIn that the target for 2023 is 15 percent of total sales. Sales of electric cars have already more than doubled in the past year. Demand for the all-electric models is very good, said a spokeswoman.

Overall sales, on the other hand, declined due to the ongoing chip crisis, the coronavirus lockdowns in China and inflation in Europe. In total, the Munich-based company sold around 2.4 million cars of the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, a spokeswoman said. This is around 100,000 fewer cars than a year ago. The core brand BMW sold around 2.1 million vehicles. However, BMW is still the number one in the global premium segment, Nota said.

(Report by Christina Amann, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at Berlin.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or Frankfurt.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)