BMW, Mercedes launch biggest EV push yet to catch Tesla with new models
BMW took the wraps of the Vision Neue Klasse electric vehicle at the IAA motor show in Munich, Germany. It underpins BMW’s big push into electric vehicles.
BMW
MUNICH, Germany — BMW and Mercedes are making their biggest push yet into electric cars in a bid to fend off rising competition from Chinese players and catch up with U.S. giant Tesla.
In the last few days, as part of the IAA Mobility motor show in Munich, Germany, the auto giants took the wraps off electric concept cars and new platforms for their future battery-powered vehicles.
European carmakers, which have been perceived to be behind Chinese companies like Warren Buffett-backed BYD and Elon Musk’s Tesla, have had to move quickly to show the market they’re ready to be major players in the electric era.
On Sunday, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its Concept CLA Class, an electric vehicle built on a new architecture that will underpin future battery cars from the German auto giant. The company said the concept car has a range of 750 kilometers (466 miles) as well as an ability to reach a range of 400 kilometers with just 15 minutes of charging.
Mercedes CEO Ola Kallenius talked up the car, calling it a “revolutionary development” for the German firm.
“With those efficiency numbers, that kind of range, that kind of fast charging, I am not aware of any vehicle, in that class that can match that,” Kallenius told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Sunday.
On Saturday, rival BMW showed off the “Vision Neue Klasse,” another electric concept car that highlights the company’s EV ambitions. Neue Klasse is BMW’s new architecture for its EVs. The first vehicles based on this platform are set to enter production in 2025.
“In only two years’ time, these cars will hit the road and with that, overall, we lead BMW to a new era of innovation and sustainability. That’s the purpose of our show here at the IAA,” BMW CEO Oliver Zipse told CNBC’s Arabile Gumede.
Zipse said BMW is going to double its EV sales this year. By the end of 2023, 15% of BMW’s global sales will be battery EVs, he added.
Mercedes and BMW’s dedicated EV platforms are a departure from previous architecture where they would adapt combustion engine or hybrid models and add batteries. This is the companies’ biggest push yet toward a new platform for the electric vehicle era.
Analysts said that Mercedes and BMW’s announcements are big steps but might leave them still lagging behind Tesla.
“The new platforms at Mercedes and BMW showcase, for the first time, what the European OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] will be capable of. These cars are likely still a year away, but their specifications show that European OEMs will be able to create compelling products,” Daniel Roeska, senior research analyst at Bernstein Research, told CNBC via email.
Roeska said that these new platforms “will close a large portion of the gap” to Tesla and the Chinese players, “but not all the way.”
Price war in focus
BMW and Mercedes are wading further into an increasingly competitive electric vehicle market, broadly dominated by Tesla and various Chinese players.
Tesla commanded 20% of the global EV market in the second quarter, followed by 15% for BYD, according to Counterpoint Research.
And the competition has become more fierce thanks to a price war largely sparked by Tesla. The U.S. automaker began cutting prices in 2023, vowing to sacrifice margins in the short term for market share gain.
Mercedes and BMW both play in the premium segment of the market, where cars like Tesla’s Model S and Model X compete. As they prepare to release more EVs in the coming years, Mercedes maintains its focus is not on pushing large volumes.
“We are not pushing volume, we are focusing on value over volume,” Kallenius said.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen’s strategy appears to be to release cars at various prices to capture different segments of the market.
The company announced Sunday that it will launch eleven new all-electric models by 2027, underscoring its EV push. In 2026, Volkswagen said it plans to launch the ID. 2all, an electric vehicle that will sell for less than 25,000 euros ($26,942).
The German auto giant showed off the ID. GTI Concept electric vehicle at the IAA show, and said a production version of the car is scheduled to hit the road in 2027.
Tesla, China dominate with tech in focus
In a world where batteries are powering cars, it’s not just design of the car or the engine that is going to win over consumers. Technology is increasingly important.
“Premium EVs now need to resemble smartphones more than traditional cars to offer a similar experience to Tesla – the gold standard in EVs with its vertically integrated platform,” Counterpoint said in a note last week.
Indeed, Tesla has built its business on controlling the hardware – the car itself – as well as the software that goes inside it. Musk often talks up the company’s Autopilot features which allow the car to carry out some driving features autonomously. Tesla’s large internal screen and apps make it feel more akin to using a smartphone.
Many of the Chinese automakers including upstarts Xpeng and Nio also market their semi-autonomous driving features.
At the IAA conference, incumbents have also been talking up their tech prowess in a bid to show they too can match Tesla and the Chinese start-ups.
For example, BMW said its Vision Neue Klasse EV has a heads-up display that projects information on the driver’s windscreen.
BMW CEO Zipse said that the Vision Neue Klass represents the “largest investment” in a car on the “digital side,” which includes semiconductors.
“This is a completely digital feeling to the car,” Zipse said.
An attendee wearing a Super Mario costume uses a Nintendo Switch 2 game console while playing a video game during the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience at the ExCeL London international exhibition and convention centre in London, Britain, April 11, 2025.
Isabel Infantes | Reuters
Nintendo on Friday announced that retail preorder for its Nintendo Switch 2 gaming system will begin on April 24 starting at $449.99.
Preorders for the hotly anticipated console were initially slated for April 9, but Nintendo delayed the date to assess the impact of the far-reaching, aggressive “reciprocal” tariffs that President Donald Trump announced earlier this month.
Most electronics companies, including Nintendo, manufacture their products in Asia. Nintendo’s Switch 1 consoles were made in China and Vietnam, Reuters reported in 2019. Trump has imposed a 145% tariff rate on China and a 10% rate on Vietnam. The latter is down from 46%, after he instituted a 90-day pause to allow for negotiations.
Nintendo said Friday that the Switch 2 will cost $449.99 in the U.S., which is the same price the company first announced on April 2.
“We apologize for the retail pre-order delay, and hope this reduces some of the uncertainty our consumers may be experiencing,” Nintendo said in a statement. “We thank our customers for their patience, and we share their excitement to experience Nintendo Switch 2 starting June 5, 2025.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 and “Mario Kart World“ bundle will cost $499.99, the digital version “Mario Kart World” will cost $79.99 and the digital version of “Donkey Kong Bananza” will cost $69.99, Nintendo said. All of those prices remain unchanged from the company’s initial announcement.
However, accessories for the Nintendo Switch 2 will “experience price adjustments,” the company said, and other future changes in costs are possible for “any Nintendo product.”
It will cost gamers $10 more to by the dock set, $1 more to buy the controller strap and $5 more to buy most other accessories, for instance.
WATCH: Nintendo has ‘a lot of work to do’ to convince casual users to upgrade to Switch 2: Kantan Games
An employee walks past a quilt displaying Etsy Inc. signage at the company’s headquarters in the Brooklyn.
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Etsy is trying to make it easier for shoppers to purchase products from local merchants and avoid the extra cost of imports as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs raise concerns about soaring prices.
In a post to Etsy’s website on Thursday, CEO Josh Silverman said the company is “surfacing new ways for buyers to discover businesses in their countries” via shopping pages and by featuring local sellers on its website and app.
“While we continue to nurture and enable cross-border trade on Etsy, we understand that people are increasingly interested in shopping domestically,” Silverman said.
Etsy operates an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers with mostly artisanal and handcrafted goods. The site, which had 5.6 million active sellers as of the end of December, competes with e-commerce juggernaut Amazon, as well as newer entrants that have ties to China like Temu, Shein and TikTok Shop.
By highlighting local sellers, Etsy could relieve some shoppers from having to pay higher prices induced by President Trump’s widespread tariffs on trade partners. Trump has imposed tariffs on most foreign countries, with China facing a rate of 145%, and other nations facing 10% rates after he instituted a 90-day pause to allow for negotiations. Trump also signed an executive order that will end the de minimis provision, a loophole for low-value shipments often used by online businesses, on May 2.
Temu and Shein have already announced they plan to raise prices late next week in response to the tariffs. Sellers on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, many of whom source their products from China, have said they’re considering raising prices.
Silverman said Etsy has provided guidance for its sellers to help them “run their businesses with as little disruption as possible” in the wake of tariffs and changes to the de minimis exemption.
Before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs took effect, Silverman said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in late February that he expects Etsy to benefit from the tariffs and de minimis restrictions because it “has much less dependence on products coming in from China.”
“We’re doing whatever work we can do to anticipate and prepare for come what may,” Silverman said at the time. “In general, though, I think Etsy will be more resilient than many of our competitors in these situations.”
Still, American shoppers may face higher prices on Etsy as U.S. businesses that source their products or components from China pass some of those costs on to consumers.
Etsy shares are down 17% this year, slightly more than the Nasdaq.
WATCH: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says sellers will pass cost of tariffs on to consumers
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway