New Delhi, March 16

The currencies of emerging market countries such as Brazil and India are likely to remain under pressure against the US dollar and the Euro in 2023 against the background of the benchmark interest rate hikes imposed by the Fed and the ECB, German luxury car maker BMW Group said in its annual report on Wednesday.

However, despite the current high level of inflation and interest rates as well as the various challenges, the Group is confident that demand will remain stable . Targeted investments and the Group’s close cooperation with its strong network of suppliers will help to achieve the targets it has set itself for 2023, it said.

“In 2023, we will take the next big step to fulfil the drivers technological needs of our customers around the globe. Later this year, we will be releasing the latest version of the world’s most successful business sedan on the market: the new BMW 5 Series – including of course the fully-electric i5. This will also be followed in 2024 by two plug-in hybrid variants,” Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, said.

The company also said that the supply situation continues to be challenging and under these circumstances, raw materials markets are expected to remain tense during the financial year 2023.

“The cost of precious metals is likely to continue rising, especially for the battery-related raw materials required to move ahead with the electrification strategy the BMW Group has adopted. On the other hand, the general availability of components and semiconductors is projected to improve slightly in 2023,” it said.

Fully-electric models

Meanwhile, after doubling sales of battery-only powered BMW and Mini brand cars last year, BMW said sales of pure-electric vehicles will likely account for 15 per cent of total deliveries this year, up from 9 per cent. The company now expects fully electric models to account for 50 per cent of total sales well ahead of 2030.

In India, with BMW, Mini and Motorrad, the BMW Group has a plant in Chennai that locally produces 13 car models. BMW Motorrad officially started its operations as a part of the Indian subsidiary of BMW Group in April 2017 and the motorcycles are made in partnership with TVS Motor at the latter’s manufacturing facility in Hosur (Tamil Nadu).

BMW Group India posted the highest-ever annual customer deliveries in its history by selling 11,981 cars (BMW and Mini) and 7,282 motorcycles in calendar year 2022. BMW India registered sales of 11,268 units and Mini India of 713 units.

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