BMW boosts EV spending to catch up with Tesla

BMW is ramping up spending on its electric-car rollout after the luxury-car maker’s battery-vehicle deliveries more than doubled during the first half of the year. During the second quarter, development spending jumped by nearly a fifth to 1.84 billion euros ($2 billion). Next year, the proportion of EV deliveries is set to rise to at least one-fifth, BMW said. Incumbent carmakers are battling to catch up to Tesla, which is pulling away in the global EV sales race following aggressive price cuts. In China, the most important market for Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, local manufacturers like BYD are increasingly dominating in EV sales.