The BMW Group, in its recent interim report, has proposed their own scrappage scheme to upgrade older diesel engines to the latest Euro 6 emissions standards. The Bavarian carmaker says that along with electric powertrain low-emission, a low-carbon diesel engine is also part of sustaining future mobility.
“Future mobility will definitely depend on state-of-the-art diesel as well,” said Harald Krüger, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG. According to BMW, the modern diesel engine is efficient, and emits low CO2 and hence is important in contributing to protecting the environment. What’s more, when it comes to noxious emissions, diesel is just as clean as or even cleaner than petrol engines, according to the Munich-based carmaker.
In addition to supporting the National Diesel Forum lobby group, BMW is committing to its own initiatives. In this initiative, BMW will provide customers with a discount on newer and efficient cars in exchange for the old diesel cars. In this EU-wide fleet-renewal campaign, owners of diesel vehicles that meet Euro 4 standards or less will be granted an environment bonus of up to €2,000 when they trade in their vehicle and purchase a new BMW or Mini. The catch here is that the replacement must be either a BMW i3, a plug-in hybrid or a Euro 6-standard vehicle with CO2 emissions of up to 130 grams per kilometre (according to the NEDC cycle).
BMW Group will also provide an exhaust-treatment system for 225,000 of the Euro 5 models currently on the road in Germany at no extra cost to the customer. BMW claims that their diesel vehicles emit 40 per cent less NOx compared to German average, and that these figures are true for their Euro 5 and Euro 6 vehicles. Thus according to their grand scheme of the fleet-renewal campaign, the emission levels would come down and also fulfil their proposed motto of “future mobility must be sustainable mobility”.
BMW spokesperson also dismissed all accusations about their role in Dieselgate and said, “Investigations by authorities at home and abroad confirm that vehicles by the BMW Group are not rigged for testing purposes”.
BMW Group is expecting to exceed 100,000 sales of electrified cars in 2017 for the first time in a single calendar year. Currently, there are nine electrified vehicles in the German carmaker’s portfolio and this number is set to increase in the coming years with the arrival of BMW i8 Roadster next year. An all-electric Mini will roll out in 2019 and will be joined by battery-only BMW X3 in 2020. The all-electric BMW iNEXT vertical will also kick off at the turn of the decade.
