BMW expects at least half of its sales to be zero emission vehicles by 2030, setting a more conservative target than some rivals in the race to embrace cleaner driving.

the German carmaker forecast on Wednesday a big rise in pretax profit for this year, with a strong performance in all areas – from MINIS through its upmarket BMW brand to top-of-the-range Rolls-Royces.

Volkswagen has said it expects 70% of European sales at its core VW brand to be electric by 2030 and this week unveiled ambitious plans to expand in electric driving – including building half a dozen battery cell plants in Europe.

BMW said around 90% of its market categories would have fully-electric models available by 2023 and the electric BMW i4 would be launched three months ahead of schedule this year.

The carmaker said its MINI brand would be fully electric “by the early 2030s” and electric models would account for at least 50% of group deliveries by 2030.

When asked if BMW could set a date for ending sales of internal combustion engines, as some rivals have, Chief Technology Officer Frank Weber said: “it’s not us who decides on the end of the internal combustion engine, but it’s the markets.”

Last week, BMW said 2021 had started well after its profit recovered in the second half of 2020 from pandemic shutdowns, thanks largely to strong sales in China.