Rumors stated that due to the first model which managed to surpass expectations of selling more than 11,000 units worldwide since November, the BMW automaker is said to expand the range of the i-branded electric range.

But the production chief at BMW, Harald Krueger, said that the company won`t be adding a third model to the i-branded range until higher demands will be on the roll.

The i-series has been trademarked by the i9 version, but Krueger also stated that it has no plans to add it to the i3 and i8 plug-in hybrid cars, going on sale this spring.

There are no specific figures given by the production chief, for the current production rate of the i3, which is being built in Leipzig, Germany.

BMW is heavily using lightweight carbon fiber-reinforced plastic in its i-range. The German car manufacturer has also built a US factory in collaboration with SGL Carbon to its cars with enough fiber carbon materials.

In China, the biggest car market in the world, there are no fresh news concerning the launch of the i-series there, due to the poor infrastructure for that matter.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW to Reconsider a Wider “I” Range of Electric Cars appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

In the past BMW have won quite a few awards for various achievements related to their business. Though I’m a big fan of the engine of the year ones, the favorite is else were.

The constant stream of sustainability titles is what I love the Bavarians for. Essentially, they’re not only bringing us joy right now, they will be here for a long time in the future as well.

As recent proof of these constant efforts to stay on top, BMW recently told us about their keeping of original forecasts and predictions in finance.

BMW’s CEO Norbert Reithofer has now stepped forward in order to give us another bit of news about the sustained efforts of the company.

The focus this time is not the money bag, but rather something that’s sapping into the funds. Yes, it’s the electric car they’re advocating under the i brand.

If the BMW i4’s unveiling at the LA Auto Show wasn’t enough of a giveaway, it seems that the Bavarians are willing to spend on this sort of technology.

They know that it’s going to lose money for now, and for quite some time in the near future, so why are they doing it?

Why is a company that’s careful with its money interested in wasting some of it? The simple reason is that it’s not actually a waste.

Over the longer term, the electric vehicle is going to be the profitable way to go. If we’re talking about sustainability, that’s the sort of thinking you need to get on.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW CEO confirms efforts on electric car development appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

BMW are doing a lot of stuff to increase sales these days and it’s natural. For a couple of years now, Audi have been breathing down their necks.

Now that Mercedes, Lexus and Cadillac have turned the action up, the Bavarians have a lot of work to do in order to stay at the front.

The newest gimmick they may be trying and plan to work out soon is online selling. We’re used to this stuff now, why not buy a car?

It sounds a little ambitious but let’s think about it. We can take test drives online.

We can get everything else online, we love having stuff delivered and boy do we love not seeing the annoying face of a dealer.

Actually, we can buy second hand cars online, that’s certainly a much greater risk than anything the automotive industry could throw at you.

BMW plans to make a trial run for online sales of the car with the brand new i Range. These models do have something that’s more new age about them anyway.

None of the details were worked out but the idea seems pretty simple. BMW’s car configurator will be extended to include an actual ordering process at the end.

Beyond that, dealers will pick up the website’s orders and then deliver the cars to the buyer’s home and there’s a huge benefit in the equation.

According to BMW, if the project works out by the end some 5-7% off the original cost of the car. With a high expense purchase like that, there’s a lot of savinsg to be considered.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW to sell cars online soon? appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

People who will be interested in BMW cars, love electrically powered vehicles and can’t wait to get their hands on the i Range, will have gotten themselves signed up for one of these.

It’s the BMW ActiveE and it’s now been around for enough time to allow people to form opinions.

http://youtu.be/l0lRZfEVaV0

Actually, the whole point of this exercise is to raise awareness on how the BMW ActiveE electric car is in terms of getting along with.

As you’d imagine with a set of video testimonials about a product of a company that was released by the same company that makes it isn’t full of complaints.

The praise goes on and on, but it’s not in that relentless and easy to disprove way that adverts can be made in. The customers genuinely seem happy with the product.

http://youtu.be/QzuzZKO6Rmw

It’s not often that you hear some performance praise about a small BMW, particularly if all the power it produces is 170 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque.

The top speed of around 90 mph isn’t that impressive either but under commuting situations that’s just fine.

Also, knowing that you have a limited range of around 100 miles will probably keep you from going too fast anyway.

http://youtu.be/Ma6c7PnQpXc

That said, when you do feel the need for some extra grunt, the superb power delivery of instant torque from the electric engine does make it feel faster than it is.

BMW’s ActiveE program has now been in existence for more than half an year now as the cars have been getting to customers since fall of 2011.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW ActiveE Experiences shared appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Well here’s a followup to the recent announcement from BMW about cost cutting. The Toyota R&D connection means that hybrid vehicles will come with a decent price.

The city car of the range the BMW i3 has recently started making noises about its price, in the wake of this new announcement and the one about the i8 supercar’s price.

Though it’s not exactly written in stone, it seems that when a market launch happens for the BMW i3 it would cost roughly the same as an entry level 5 Series.

It is still quite a lot to pay for a city car, even if it comes with similar luxury levels and toys for the conditions but it’s not so bad overall.

Let’s keep in mind that the BMW i3 will actually come with a lot of new technologies, have a lot of carbon fiber used in its construction and be one of the most eco-friendly cars out there.

If they end up pricing it like an entry level 520i it will be a little exclusive but probably worth the asking price without too much hassle.

At the moment an F10 BMW 520i costs between €35.000 and €40.000 ($43.000 – $50.000) depending on the market its available in.

BMW have also made a special point out of reminding us that the idea of the i Range being in trouble is now little more than a rumor.

All that’s remained at this point is to see us when they bring the i3 to the market and the official price sticker it will have in the window.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW i3 pricing announced appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

BMW’s i range green range of cars seem to be more and more talked about these days. The newest bit is focused around the i8 supercar.

According to a couple of reports, BMW already has a price set in mind for the i8 when it comes to the market in less than two years.

This price isn’t a few million as most estimates would call it but a rather modest for a supercar or for something that is partially electric.

Ian Robertson, BMW’s global sales chief reckons the i8 could hit the market at as little as 100.000 euro which is roughly 125.000 USD.

Further more, the BMW i3 would also be priced well since Robertson claims it will be “very competitive” given the technology it’s offered with.

The small hatchback is said to be somewhere around 30.000 on the road so it would technically compete with some of the regular high end hatchbacks.

That seems like a more than fair price which is serious surprise for BMW who seem to be overcharging their consumers lately.

There was even some talk about the way these cars would reach the customers. Dealerships selling BMW’s i range isn’t going to be limited to the newly introduced stores.

The ratio of dealerships out of the grand total in Germany is 45 out of 200. The rest of the world will be getting one that’s less than this “near 1/4” of the Vaterland.

Either way, it all seems like more than plenty. We’re almost certain green folks will find a way to get one and are thrilled to find out the new prices.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW i8 pricing estimated appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

BMW’s recent announcements seem to indicate we’re dealing with a company that’s a woman. They’re just issuing mixed signals one after the other.

First there were some financial problems with the i sub-brand and then they announced the i8 engine production site. After that they’ve opened a new dealership.

It’s not exactly the same thing, but it’s close by. It was called the i Store and has an updated BMW i3 on display alongside a new concept.

That new concept isn’t another eco-friendly car but a special folding bicycle that was designed to fit in the boot of the newly refreshed i3.

It’s called the i Pedelec Concept and apart from being a bike that you can fold away it’s also made out of aluminum and carbon fiber.

Getting back to the newly refreshed i3 Concept, it comes with roughly the same exterior appearance as the previous version.

The interior however now features eucalyptus wood trim and other stuff with the target of impressing the eco minded motorist.

There’s also wool and naturally-tanned leather seats for those who care somewhat less for the environment than they do about themselves.

Under the bonnet there’s now a 170 horsepower and 170 lb-ft of torque engine and it’s teamed to a small electric hub motor that drains its power from a 42V lithium-manganese battery.

A charge for that battery should take some 4 hours at your average household plug. For now, the BMW i3 can be admired at the London i Store (alongside the i8) but neither can be bought.

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Marcus M.

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The post BMW i Store opened in London appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

BMW’s i8 Spyder is now winking at us thanks to a couple of videos. No longer is the roadster version of the BMW i8 a static display .

The new promo videos must be the Bavarians’ way of reminding us how the Beijing Motor Show is coming up later this month.

This is important, because that’s what the BMW stand will have for a flagship concept. China’s market is quite important to BMW, as we keep finding out from recent sales results.

Even though the presentation may have changed, BMW’s i8 Spyder concept won’t see anything different on its body or performance.

It’s still a 131 horsepower electric motor teamed with a 1.5 liter three cylinder turbocharged engine producing another 223 horsepower.

As you’d imagine, the BMW i8 Spyder also retains the fuel economy and performance figures. It can manage 78 mpg on the US cycle and it develops a combined 354 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque.

Those latter figures will help the new BMW concept go from 0 to 60 in just 5 seconds and the top speed figure stands at a very German 155 mph.

I will say something though, the BMW i8 Spyder looks even better in videos than it does in photos. That fluid design is certainly something worth looking at.

Rolling in quietness on a roof parking lot is nice but the second part where you see at night is miles more impressive.

This is where you realize that the BMW i8 Spyder actually has the making of a serious posing machine. It doesn’t look like anything other than a supercar.

Source: Carscoop

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW i8 Spyder promo videos appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

The Bavarians at BMW have plenty of new models in the pipeline and there’s a lot of controversy that is spinning around the rumors and announcements that emerge about them.

King of the hill among the importance and controversy levels as well we find the BMW i8. Being built to be some sort of hybrid supercar is just the half of it.

The most important part of the equation however is the styling. BMW have taken a few leaps of fate in recent years with design ideas and it seems they don’t plan to stop anytime soon.

Here’s the deal though, BMW fans and general car buying public have taken decently well to the iffy style as long as the driving pleasure and performance was still there.

Sadly though, BMW have some bad new about that segment of the i8’s future development. The M version of the hybrid supercar was dropped.

That could be a bit of a problem, because the BMW i8M or whatever it’s to be called, would have been a high performance version of the car that had no electric part in its propulsion.

It seems like even though the BMW i8 isn’t going to offer an M version, it will retain its flagship status for the Bavarian company.

Estimated figures for the BMW i8 come in at over €100.000 or roughly over 130.000 USD at current exchange rates.

That’s not a bad price for a BMW flagship but all i’m thinking that it would provide more than the 393 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW talks through the i8 development appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

There’s a steady trickle of reports coming in about BMW extending their tree-hugging-eco-friendly-world saving i Range to include more than the i3 and i8 models we’re familiar with.

The new model in question is a “middle of the road” solution, a new car that would slot between the two previously announced models. Predictably, the name chosen by their branding and copyrighting guys isn’t that surprising.

Hold off you’re amazement, this new model will most likely be called the BMW i5 and it’s going to turn up by some time relatively soon, but not before 2015.

Though details are sketchy at the moment, you know we’re looking at an electric car with a range extender or something of the likes for a powertrain.

Just like the name, the power delivery and the body style are expected to be middle of the road situations as well. More power than the i3 but not by much, certainly not enough to keep up with the i8.

The body is said to be an intermediary option but it’s actually going to be a mini MPV like affair. A mini MPV, minivan, people carrier, whatever it’s going to be, it’s likely to grow considerably compared to the i3.

Whatever the BMW i5 ends up being, it will likely come with incredibly efficient numbers, a luxurious interior, great reliability and a hefty price tag.

Honestly, I think it will be a very interesting car to see in action but it will be very likely to keep on irritating BMW’s purists.

A mini MPV with efficiency first just doesn’t smack of Bavarian.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW i5 reportedly coming in 2015 appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.