MUNICH: In light of tougher CO2 emission regulations and rising demand for environmentally friendly cars, BMW has announced plans to gear its technical platforms more strongly towards electric cars in the coming years.

"Our new plant in Hungary plays a key role here," BMW boss Oliver Zipse said here on Wednesday. "The new EV-centred architecture will start there from the middle of this decade."

Until now BMW has been foregoing the costly development of its own purely electric technology platform for its cars and has been building both all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids on the same assembly lines as internal combustion engines.

Now, however, electrics are set to become the main focus on the factory floor in the second half of the decade.

Cars with a purely electric architecture are considered to be better adapted to electric mobility, which should allow for longer ranges - and in larger quantities they should also be more efficient in production thanks to fewer required conversions.

Rival Mercedes had also announced its own electric platforms for the compact and luxury class. Volkswagen has also announced its own electric platform, PPE, for the premium brands Porsche and Audi.

"We expect demand for all-electric vehicles to continue to rise significantly from 2025," said Zipse.

"In 10 years, we want to have more than seven million electrified BMW Group vehicles on the road - two thirds of which will be fully electric," said the manager.

By 2030, the EU's specifications for CO2 emissions will become even stricter, and carmakers will rely primarily on electric drives to reduce them.

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