OH NO! BMW Planning Prius Like Hatchback For i Sub-Brand

I'm waiting for the product to be released before I pass judgment. Who knows, it might be respectable, or even noteworthy.

So much for "OH NO!"

I honestly think that if done right, and priced like a 3 Series that this would steal a LOT of sales from the 3 Series. A practical, "green" car that can handle the same people and cargo (or more) as a 3 Series could be a game-changing reinvention.

Good to hear. I like hatchback and I like alternatives to petrol.

BMW should rehire Fisker to style i brand.

And we thought Chris Bangle's werk was bad ;)

vdiv wrote "And we thought Chris Bangle's werk was bad ;)"

For the record, Chris Bangle and his team designed some gorgeous BMWs. The polarizing styles that came to be known as "Flame Surface" were one of three styling directions the BMW Ivory Tower directed Bangle and team to design. Specifically, they asked for three design directions: (1) Conservative, (2) Moderate, and (3) very different from current design. Bangle and team delivered on these three design directions, and the folks in the Ivory Tower chose the "really different" stuff, that came to be known as the much maligned and short-lived "Flame Surface" styling language.

Yeah, there are lots of us who wish Bangle and team had done "different AND gorgeous," but that was not to be.

Finally! If this is accurate, BMW must have realized that the i3 was too quirky and the i8 just too stupidly expensive.

A BMW Prius is a brilliant move. With BMW collaborating with Toyota, BMW would be smart to leverage Toyota's vaster knowledge of electrification and possibly even use the Prius' platform.

I feel BMW continues to make one strategic mistake after another. Its i3 is a sales failure and its i8 is an extremely expensive, low-volume model. If BMW launches an electric cat with similar dimensions and utility as a 3-Series, it will just cannibalize sales of the 3-Series, which are already in rapid decline.

BMW should be focused on improving its interior quality and design, differentiating its exteriors and bringing back the driving dynamics that made it the 'Ultimate Driving Machine'.

Instead, it's focusing on a model that will surely cannibalize sales of its best-selling model.

No wonder BMW will lose the U.S. and global sales crown in 2017.

"With Audi third, and falling further behind BMW and Mercedes every month even with a new A4 and Q7."

There, I finished your monologue for you, you forgot that line. Your check from Audi is in the mail.

You forgot that Audi sells fewer models than BMW overall. Audi also has more outdated models than BMW (Q3, Q5 A6 and A8 were all originally designed many years ago). Despite both those factors, Audi is already nipping at BMW's heels in terms of global sales.

Face it, your beloved BMW is a completed mess in the United States and is getting lapped by Mercedes-Benz globally.

Once Audi launches its new technology-loaded A8, the new Q5 gets delivered in half the time to the U.S. as the existing model, and the Q2, Q6 and Q8 are all launched - BMW will be in 3rd place globally right where it belongs.

The A8 doesn't sell no matter how new or good it is, and the A6 and Q5 aren't any older than the 5-series and X3 they compete with. Both of those are being replaced next year by the way, so I think your plans for world domination are going to have to be delayed for a bit. But then it's Audi -- lots of grandstanding bluster followed by delays are the status quo. Anyway, good luck beating BMW and Benz without any of your infamous "clean diesels" to sell. Truth in engineering, indeed.

Would that be the new technology loaded A8 that looks exactly like the car it replaces? It's running around with virtually no camo...