BMW is ending the job cuts and plans to create up to 6,000 additional jobs next year. CEO Oliver Zipse told the “Münchner Merkur” (Thursday) that BMW is on a very good way through the transformation, has prepared its plants for e-mobility and expects further growth in sales in 2022. “That is why we will increase our number of employees by up to five percent next year.”
One reason for this is the high demand for the new electric models. “Our i4 is sold out for months, as is the iX,” said Zipse. “Next year the electric 7 Series is coming, it won’t be any different.”
However, the lack of charging stations is a drag. “In Europe, the number of electric cars is currently growing five times as fast as the infrastructure,” he told the newspaper. This is one of the reasons why he is strictly against a ban on internal combustion engines: “That would inevitably lead to the largest industry in Germany in a shrinking scenario.” Zipse called for the CO₂ targets to be linked with binding targets for the charging infrastructure.
According to Zipse, the shortage of semiconductors should be over in a year in view of the ongoing investments of the semiconductor manufacturers: “I assume that we will see a largely normality at the end of next year,” said the BMW boss.
