German luxury moves rapidly into the electric era

German luxury is going electric.

The segment's heavyweights — Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi — will roll out a conga line of next-generation electric vehicles in the U.S. starting next year.

The Germans join the broader industry in a wholesale pivot to EVs as they chase stringent — and expensive — emission-reduction targets in Europe and China. But Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler last month indicated it is speeding up its transition to zero emissions. The company plans to invest more than $47 billion between 2022 and 2030 to develop full-electric vehicles. Next year, Mercedes will bring up to three battery-electric utility vehicles and an electric midsize sedan to its U.S. stores.

Rival BMW will debut two electric models in the first quarter of 2022 — the i4 four-door fastback and the iX midsize crossover.

About a quarter of BMW sales in the U.S. will be EVs by 2026, vowed BMW of North America's outgoing CEO, Bernhard Kuhnt. The automaker's EV deliveries in the U.S. are expected to grow on average by 50 percent per year through 2025.

Meanwhile, Mini is maneuvering around a plunge in volume by developing future EVs and crossovers.

And Audi hopes to accelerate a transition to an all-electric portfolio with the expansion of its E-tron lineup.

Audi announced this year that it will stop selling internal combustion-powered vehicles in 2033 and that it will end the development of new gasoline engines in 2026. That leaves less than one full product cycle for its existing lineup of sedans, sport coupes and crossovers.

Until then, the brand will freshen much of its gasoline-powered lineup, and those vehicles may get a short extension beyond the brand's traditional eight-year product cycle as more BEVs come online.