FRANKFURT: Soaring demand for SUVs drove record sales for premium carmakers including BMW and Mercedes last year, leaving the industry on collision course with government efforts to tackle global warming despite big investments in electric vehicles.
BMW said yesterday deliveries by its main luxury brand rose two per cent to a record 2,168,516 vehicles last year, thanks to a 21pc jump in sales of its “X” branded sport-utility vehicles (SUV) which now make up 44pc of the BMW brand’s global sales.
At Mercedes-Benz, the world’s best selling premium car brand, every third luxury car sold last year was an SUV.
Carmakers across the world are investing billions in electric vehicles to try to meet tougher emissions regulations. But the jury is out on how many drivers will buy them.
“Consumer preferences for SUVs could offset the benefits from electric cars,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned in its November World Energy Outlook 2019 report.
The IEA said a doubling in market share had seen emissions from SUVs grow by nearly 0.55 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) during the last decade to roughly 0.7 gigatons. As a result, SUVs were the second-largest contributor to the increase in global CO2 emissions since 2010 after the power sector – ahead of heavy industry including iron and steel, cement, aluminium, as well as trucks and aviation, it said.
There are now more than 200 million SUVs around the world, up from about 35m in 2010, accounting for 60pc of the increase in the global car fleet since 2010, IEA data shows.
“If the popularity of SUVs continues to rise in line with recent trends, this could add another 2m barrels per day to our projection for 2040 oil demand,” it said.
The German carmakers say their vehicles are among the most fuel efficient available, thanks to hybrid and other technologies, adding customers could also choose to buy smaller, more frugal cars instead of SUVs.
Both BMW and Mercedes-owner Daimler say they aim to achieve new sales records this year, and are preparing to launch fully electric SUVs – the BMW iX3 and Mercedes-Benz EQC – which they say shows a commitment to a cleaner future.
While acknowledging the growing popularity of SUVs, Germany’s powerful VDA car industry association said much of the demand was for more efficient models.
“Only just under 5pc of SUVs are large luxury class vehicles. The market success of the SUV segment is mainly due to the model offensive in compact and medium-sized SUVs, with correspondingly lower fuel consumption,” VDA said.
The newly registered SUVs of German group brands had reduced their CO2 emissions by 35pc since 2008, it added.