CompleteCar

No third i model for BMW... yet

BMW will assess customer demand before expanding electric line-up.


BMW has said it will assess demand of its i models before expanding on the current two-car line-up of i3 and i8. Having plunged around €2 billion into developing the green sub-brand and trademarked all the numbers up to i9, it looks like we'll have to wait a while until we see any third vehicle in the range.

It's not bad news, though; far from it, as global orders for the i3 city hatch have exceeded 11,000 since it went on sale in its homeland in November 2013, which is far more than BMW was expecting, and has resulted in a six-month waiting list for customers.

But once the i8 goes on sale, BMW production chief Harald Krüger says the company will watch "how demand develops" before announcing anything else. Presumably, this is the German way of saying 'don't count your chickens'...

Anything else?
Krüger was cagey about the current production rate of i3, which is built in Leipzig, Germany. However, China - as with all carmakers - is key to BMW's success and the company already has a manufacturing plant there. Nonetheless, he added that the infrastructure in the country was still developing and that Chinese production of the i3 was "not under consideration" at the present time.

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Published on January 28, 2014