Winner: Arnold Schwarzenegger goes undercover to support electric cars. Loser: BMW

Winner: Arnold.

Loser: BMW.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltaylor/2019/06/27/bmw-says-european-customers-arent-demanding-evs/#2c214716141b
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/06/28/bmw-lets-slip-that-its-electric-vehicles-cant-compete-with-teslas/ 
"The shift to electrification is overhyped. There are no customer requests for BEVs. None"

“BEVs are thousands more expensive than internal-combustion cars but we can’t charge that to customers and those (emissions) regulations are reducing our profit pool,” Frölich says.

“We can’t have the same margin on those (BEV) cars. We know. The level is between the internal-combustion margin is halfway more but if we charged the customers for that cost, we would have downsizing with customers going from a 3 Series to a 1 Series.”.


BMW have huge challenges coming from electric vehicles like Tesla. These statements come from the same Klaus Frölich that said the following in 2016: 
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-autoshow-geneva-software-exclusive-idUKKCN0W60ER
"Our task is to preserve our business model without surrendering it to an internet player. Otherwise we will end up as the Foxconn for a company like Apple, delivering only the metal bodies for them," Froehlich said.

"We have some catching up to do in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence,” Froehlich said. 

Today, software engineers make up just 20 percent of the 30,000 employees, contractors and supplier staff that work on research and development for BMW. 

"If I need to get to a ratio of 50:50 within five years, I need to get manpower equivalent to another 15,000 to 20,000 people from partnerships with suppliers and elsewhere," Froehlich said, adding that German schools are not producing enough tech engineers for BMW to hire them all in house. 

As software becomes as important as hardware, another cultural shift could see BMW free up resources by licensing out technology produced by its own engineers, such as drivetrains for electric and hybrid vehicles. 

"Going forward we will sell electric drivetrains," Froehlich said. "We see many smaller manufacturers who cannot afford to develop a plug-in hybrid.”.

BMW have just been too lazy and arrogant to innovate, preferring short-term easy profits and resting on the laurels of its combustion engine investments. BMW's comments seem desperate as Tesla are already very competitive in Germany, BMW fear change:
https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/tesla-model-3-outsells-german-sedan-rivals-europe

Model	Tesla Model 3	BMW 320i + Parking Assist Plus
Purchase Price	€44,500	€41,940
Incentives	-€2,000	€0
Price After Incentives	€42,500	€41,940
Price of Gas		€5.30
Avg Price Of Electricity For Car	€0.30
Average Miles Per Year	7,000	7,000

Total Cost Of Car After Year…	Tesla Model 3	BMW 3 Series	… Model 3 Savings
1	€42,995	€44,590	€1,595
2	€43,491	€47,240	€3,749
3	€43,986	€49,890	€5,904
4	€44,481	€52,540	€8,059
5	€44,976	€55,190	€10,214
6	€45,472	€57,840	€12,368
7	€45,967	€60,490	€14,523
8	€46,462	€63,140	€16,678
9	€46,958	€65,790	€18,832
10	€47,453	€68,440	€20,987

BMW is slooooow. Tesla still functions like a Silicon Valley startup, moving fast, making mistakes, and fixing errors on the go. The result of this work culture, vertical integration, direct sales model, supercharger network, coupled with extensive experience with the electric motor and batteries, is a carmaker that moves incredibly fast. Thus, by the time the German automakers come up with vehicles that can challenge the Model 3 in its current iteration in terms of tech, features, and specs, Tesla would probably have improved its vehicles further and have lower costs due to much larger volume. It’s incredible to see BMW ignoring the obvious signs of change and making false claims that there is no demand for advanced electric vehicles. 

German media is reporting that BMW is feeling the pressure in the electric vehicle market, which has, in more ways than one, started affecting the security of the BMW's CEO Harald Krüger position: 
https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/autokonzern-machtpoker-bei-bmw-krueger-muss-um-seinen-chefposten-bangen/24500412.html?ticket=ST-201701-AbRYeeDe7GD6XxedU0KF-ap6

Update 7/7/2019: BMW CEO is BMW CEO Harald Krueger is stepping down:
https://apnews.com/cdae456e8c1948e5b7f01c602eda23dc

Update 18/7/2019: BMW picks Oliver Zipse as its new CEO:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bmw-succession-zipse/bmw-to-pick-new-ceo-zipse-emerges-as-favorite-idUSKCN1UD1AU
Hailing Zipse’s “decisive” leadership style, BMW hopes the 55-year-old can help the company regain its edge in electric cars and win back the premium market lead lost to Mercedes-Benz under his consensus-seeking predecessor.

But some analysts questioned whether Zipse was the right choice when new fields such as software and services like car-sharing are becoming increasingly important to carmakers.

“What is intriguing is the cultural bias to appoint the head of production. It works sometimes but it’s not guaranteed. Being good at building cars is not a defining edge the way it was 20 years ago,” Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois said.

“Production expertise is important, but if you want to avoid ending up being a hardware provider for Google or Apple, you need to have the ability to move up the food chain into data and software,” a former BMW board member said, declining to be identified.