- BMW has reportedly sent its U.S. dealers a memo announcing EV production will be "postponed" in May.
- This is likely a direct result of tariffs kicking in, and it brings the future of foreign-built BMW EVs into question.
- BMW wants to start building Neue Klasse EVs in the U.S. by the end of next year.
BMW’s electric vehicles had a good 2024 globally and in the U.S. There, the i4 almost made the top ten best-sellers list with over 23,000 units delivered, accounting for nearly half of all the automaker’s EV sales in the States. But it doesn't look like BMW will be able to repeat that this year, with newly imposed hefty import tariffs taking effect and driving up prices.
According to one Automotive News report, which cites information from a memo sent to BMW’s U.S. dealers, the manufacturer will “postpone” the production of electric vehicles next month. No additional information is offered, like which specific model this refers to, so we don’t have a lot to go on.
One clue as to why BMW is doing this comes from AutoForecast Solutions Vice President Sam Fiorani's statement. He said, "Add in that the EV market is saturated, and it doesn’t make sense to add increasingly costly EVs to a crowded market.” Factoring in tariffs that will hike the price of already expensive EVs and we can understand why BMW is doing this.
BMW doesn’t build any EVs in the United States—all U.S. market electric BMWs come from Europe—so this could mean all of them. The Bavarians currently have a four-strong EV lineup in the U.S., which includes the i4, the i5, the i7 and the iX. Even though the latter is an SUV and most BMW SUVs come from the Spartanburg plant in the U.S., the iX is built in Dingolfing, Germany, alongside the i5 and i7. The top-selling i4 comes out of BMW’s Munich plant.
The other piece of information shared in the report was that BMW would keep prices unchanged through June, with the exception of the 2 Series coupe and M2, which are imported into the U.S. from Mexico. That’s one of the countries where BMW will begin manufacturing Neue Klasse EVs for the U.S., the first of which will debut this year. Neue Klasse production is also expected to start in Spartanburg by the end of 2026.
With tariffs mounting over imported vehicles, BMW will have to change course and adapt. Building cars in the States is one way of doing it, although tariffs will still make these cars more expensive if parts come from outside of the country (and they will). BMW could opt for more localized parts production to minimize the impact of tariffs on the price of its cars in the U.S., but it could also choose to scale back car sales here significantly bet on the administration rolling back the policy eventually. Neither option will be cheap or easy.
