BMW knows what the future looks like from their recent announcements with their iNext and Project i 2.0 programs:
https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/globa...umber-one-next
http://www.bmwblog.com/2016/03/09/fo...al-revolution/
But the issue is how fast can they catch up with Tesla's technology before Tesla becomes a formidable competitor. Tesla is not only building cars. They are building an infrastructure with their superchargers. This is totally a different way of competing with the established car makers and they were caught off guard.
In one of the BMW meetings, a BMW exec mentioned something about leading instead of following or they will just become another subcontractor of who owns the technology (...or something like that).