MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - BMW Board Member for Production Milan Nedeljkovic would like to give electric cars a clear preference in road traffic in order to boost demand. "For example, privileged access to city centers, free parking or a dedicated lane on the highway," he told the "Münchner Merkur" (Saturday): "If you were constantly overtaken by electric cars in traffic jams, many would certainly consider switching."

Such preferential treatment would be an alternative to the EU's planned ban on combustion engines. Nedeljkovic said that state purchase premiums as an incentive would not make sense in the long term either.

One million cars from German BMW plants by 2024

Despite criticism of the German location, BMW is continuing to ramp up production here: "We will build more than one million cars in Germany this year," announced the Board of Management. Last year, BMW produced 936,000 cars in Dingolfing, Munich, Regensburg and Leipzig, 729,000 in China and 411,000 in the USA. Worldwide, the figure was 2.66 million.

Over the past five years, the Group has invested five billion euros in the German plants, said Nedeljkovic. They are profitable. "But one thing is certain: it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete at our home location." The reasons for this are bureaucracy, expensive energy and high location costs. Industry also needs a solid road network, reliable railroads and digital infrastructure.

"However, we are currently experiencing an exodus of industrial companies, especially SMEs and suppliers. What we actually need is exactly the opposite, namely the establishment of new technologies," said the BMW Board Member.

Criticism of EU climate policy

The BMW Head of Production also criticized EU plans to calculate the CO2 footprint of a company's battery production according to the electricity mix of the entire country. This would penalize companies like BMW that invest in the purchase of green electricity: "Our CO2 footprint would then be assessed using the German electricity mix, including coal-fired power. That would massively worsen our balance sheet on paper," said Nedeljkovic. "This would remove the incentive to strive for production that is as climate-neutral as possible."/rol/DP/he