BERLIN: Though BMW is not selling its i3 and i8 battery-powered cars. Yet, it has already established a leadership role in the electric car world. Thus to put the company on the top echelon of EV-makers, the BMW is moving faster than Tesla or Nissan toward an entire suite of plug-in cars.
It’s been six months since the BMW i-branded electric vehicles were introduced in the United States. The company has tallied about 4,500 sales, combined for the i3 and i8.
These vehicles should not be viewed as singular models—but rather as part of a comprehensive electric car program that started with the Mini-E test platform more than six years ago.
There will be a smaller version of the i3, with only two seats, fewer batteries and shorter range. A mini-car, which would be targeted to people living in major urban centres, could be introduced as soon as 2015, according to Moloughney. He wrote that two years later, in 2017, BMW will introduce an Urban Commuter Vehicle: a four-door, five-passenger EV that’s bigger than the i3, with a larger pack and greater range.
“We are planning to have a plug-in hybrid vehicle in each and every model series,” Peter Wolf, BMW’s head of production line for large vehicles, told motoring.com.au in September 2013.
When Nissan introduced the LEAF, the company promised a suite of four EVs—from a sports car to a small utility. These days, Nissan isn’t saying much about any EV other than LEAF. Meanwhile, Tesla last week announced another delay in release of its Model X SUV, which casts some doubt on a timely release of its more $40,000-is sedan.
