BMW confident the i3 will live to see a second generation

Despite sluggish sales, i3 project manager Heinrich Schwackhoefer strongly believes the electrified city hatch has a future.

The i3 went on sale towards the end of 2013 and as most of you know sales haven’t been that great, with only a little over 60,000 units delivered to date. As you would imagine, BMW was expecting the i3 to be a better performer, but even so the model’s project manager Heinrich Schwackhoefer says that in no way the current car has been labeled as a failure within the company.
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TheSteve - 11/11/2016 2:37:56 PM

+1 Boost

I spent some time around one at a show. The interior looks spartan, likely to lose weight and increase range.

The "range extender" versions with the small ICE is a good idea, but it's crippled by the small fuel tank, which was a requirement to classify the vehicle as a pure EV (with an optional ICE generator to extend the range) rather than as a Hybrid.

I also thought the i3 was overpriced for what it was. That's probably the deal-breaker for most prospective consumers.

MDarringer - 11/11/2016 3:05:45 PM

0 Boost

BMW went the wrong way with its i3 should not have been a BMW Aztek. The better move would have been to have taken the 1 Series FWD sedan and put it out as a hybrid and as an EV. That would have removed the stigma of the 1 Series being (1) FWD and (2) a cheap BMW. The i3 as I am suggesting would have shown how BMW would do for hybrids and EVs what the 3 Series did for sport sedans. Follow that i3 with an i3X crossover and magic nirvana would have occurred.

Dexter1 - 11/12/2016 1:15:08 AM

+2 Boost

... but why do they have to make it ugly?

HenryN - 11/12/2016 9:10:27 PM

+1 Boost

With MD now acting more civilized in fear of being kicked out of this site, BobM is taking his place. Problem is BobM has even lower IQ and can only muster insults without having any meaningful to say. It's obvious everyone on this board is avoiding him like a pile of vomit.

MDarringer - 11/13/2016 12:11:36 PM

+1 Boost

The discourse has been so pleasingly catty, I've had no need to take a baseball bat to the hornets nest of idiots.

MDarringer - 11/13/2016 12:11:56 PM

+1 Boost

delicious