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Monday, September 9
The 2014 BMW i3 is not yet allowed to roam the public streets of Frankfurt, but it shuttles journalists between the 2013 Frankfurt motor show's eleven distant halls. First impression: It's quite spacious, but the organic surfaces are as premium as Formica tables in a no-star restaurant, the fit and finish is rather naff, and you can´t exit from row two unless someone opens the front door for you. More than 1800 i3s were sold in the first two days in Germany alone, almost all of them without the optional range-extending engine. Early adopters are a courageous bunch. The biggest market for the i3 is North America where the BEV parking garage is expected to grow to 90,000 units this year. In Germany, we hold at 4000 vehicles. So how does BMW expect this scenario to evolve?