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German carmaker BMW plans to increase output of profitable sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) to boost earnings this year and help fund the rollout of a mass production system for electric cars, it said on Tuesday.
BMW Group and rival Mercedes have both forecast that demand for electric and hybrid cars will rise to 15-25 percent of sales by 2025, forcing them to overhaul their production lines and vehicle platforms to accommodate mass production techniques.
"The fully electric drivetrain will be integrated into our core brands," CEO Harald Krueger told a news conference at BMW's headquarters in Munich to discuss the group's annual earnings.
Only 2.6 percent of the 2.37 million cars BMW Group sold last year equipped with a hybrid or electric motor. The group also includes Mini and Rolls-Royce brands.
Electric car production will now be integrated into BMW's main production system, rather than relying on a separate, low-volume electric car factory in the eastern German city of Leipzig, the carmaker said.
"To achieve this we are now gearing our architectures towards combustion engines and pure battery electric drivetrains," Krueger said.
Even local production in China is being prepared to make batteries and electric powertrains, BMW said, adding the level of production would be decided once China's electric cars policy has been clarified.
The cost of integrating electric cars into mass production as well as investments in self-driving cars, such as the building of a research centre near Munich, will cause investments to rise, the carmaker added.
"Due to necessary upfront investments, the research and development ratio for the next two years is likely to be slightly above our target range of 5 percent to 5.5 percent (of revenues)," Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said.
Earlier this month, BMW reported preliminary 2016 financial results, with earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) down 2.2 percent at 9.39 billion euros ($9.9 billion) even as revenues rose to a record 94.16 billion euros.
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