Auf Wiedersehen BMW i3
BMW’s marketing director Pieter Nota has ruined Christmas for BMW i3 fans, revealing to the Financial Times that the diminutive disruptor model will be phased out.
Despite leading the charge (pun massively intended) on the Bavarian brand’s electric vehicle development programme back in 2013, the revolutionary little city car has been sidelined.
The company, says Nota, will concentrate instead on adding plug-in hybrid and full electric versions of its more mainstream passenger vehicles to the range.
The manufacturer expects to offer 13 EV models globally by 2023.
Though undoubtably an acquired taste, the i3 has been a modest success for BMW, paving the way for more acceptance of electric technology and proving its worth around the world over two generations.
The next update was due next year, but Nota says this won’t be happening as planned. He wouldn’t be drawn on the fate of the i8, the i3’s supercar sibling.
We’d wager that could remain on the scene longer, being just as niche but better at turning heads — as halo cars are supposed to.