It is extremely heartbreaking to see BMW discontinue its little electric hatchback after nine years on the market given how great it was.
In 2011, as interest in electric vehicles increased, the BMW i3 was first unveiled as a concept car. The design was later evolved into a working model that was released for purchase in 2013 as a 2014 model. The BMW i3 has enjoyed considerable success since that time. The compact electric hatchback from BMW has sold over 250,000 units and was named the World Car Design and World Green Car of the Year winners at the 2014 World Car Awards.
Unfortunately, all wonderful things must eventually come to an end. BMW terminated the i3 in all markets in July 2022 after ceasing manufacturing for the US market in July 2021. The company cited consumer demand for larger-than-the-i3 electric automobiles as justification for the withdrawal. Another reason is that the manufacturer wants to move away from the i3’s distinctive appearance and produce electric vehicles with more traditional styling. The BMW i4 and BMW iX models are taking the place of the i3 as a result. We are sad to see the i3 depart, but there are other reasons as well.
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BMW will discontinue producing the i3 in July.
In July 2022, BMW will stop making the i3 in Leipzig. This is most likely due to the plant’s changeover to the production of upcoming electric vehicles.
According to a manufacturing representative quoted in the British magazine Autocar, production has come to an end. As a result, the information can be regarded as fact and not as conjecture. Oliver Zipse, the CEO of BMW, continued to say that the i3 would be produced in Leipzig through 2024 in December 2019. It was still believed at the time that the i3 will get another model update to make it marketable by 2024. An earlier end is now more plausible because such an update did not occur.
The i3’s now-apparently-early demise coincides with the Leipzig plant’s restructuring in the second half of 2022 in anticipation of the start of production of the new generation Mini Countryman, which, according to reports, will also be produced at the Leipzig BMW plant starting in 2023 with a pure electric drive. The production facilities for the Countryman will need to be rebuilt using BMW’s FAAR front-wheel drive architecture because the i3 is based on a stand-alone platform with an aluminum chassis and carbon fiber passenger cell.
Because the iX1 electric variant of the new X1 will debut later this year, the BMW i3 is also being phased out. Originally, a new production facility in Debrecen, Hungary, was going to be used to construct the iX1. It will now be manufactured at the BMW facility in Regensburg until 2024 as a result of construction delays, according to Autocar. Despite being around 40 centimeters longer than the i3, the interior space of the iX1 is comparable to that of the i3 thanks to its combustion engine base. Because of this, and despite the iX1’s unusual body concept, BMW intends to present it as a sort of successor.
In October 2021, the i3, which was introduced in 2013, has reached 200,000 units produced. BMW anticipates producing 250,000 copies of the i3 by the time it is retired in July 2022. The 2018 battery update to 42.2 kWh gross resulted in a steady rise in the number of i3 registrations. The nine-year-old model still registered 12,178 new vehicles in Germany in 2021, placing it 10th among all electric vehicles, ahead of the Opel Corsa-e, Audi e-tron, and Hyundai Ioniq 5.
The fate of the BMW i3 had already been the subject of numerous rumors. In response to rumors concerning the model’s future at the end of 2019, Zipse has indicated, as previously reported, that production of the i3 would “continue beyond 2024.” Then, in June 2021, it was made public that BMW intended to stop selling the i3 in the US as early as July 2022, which is the current confirmed end-of-production date for the model. In terms of naming, the demise of the i3 is also intriguing: A completely electric BMW 3 Series will be introduced in China, and it may carry the i3 moniker.
BMW will shortly stop producing its i3 electric hatchback, blaming declining sales for the decision.
The 2013 BMW i3 is the company’s first electric vehicle.
The range of the BMW i3 is 130 to 160 kilometers on a single charge.
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The first BMW I model in series production, the i3, is reportedly going out of production later this year. According to a report by Autocar, a BMW representative said the last i3 will come off the assembly line in July.
The model’s US trim was discontinued last year because to declining sales, but the EV has been quite popular in Europe since up until the epidemic, sales figures showed rising demand.
Sales of the BMW i3 weren’t too bad.
Forbes points out that despite the BMW i3 still being phased out, the i3s sales have climbed every year. From 2014 to 2016, it was the third most popular electric car in the world, and by 2020, it had sold around 40,000 cars. Even yet, the i3 received honors including World Car Design of the Year. In 2014, it was also named the World Green Car of the Year.
When creating its first electric vehicle, BMW experimented with various ideas. They are now able to see a future for BMW that is powered by electricity. The fully electric BMW iX and BMW i4 Gran Coupe, both of which will be available in the US early next year, are the first examples of BMW’s next generation of electric vehicles. According to a statement from BMW, “the success of the BMW i3 and the experience gained in developing and manufacturing it have laid the groundwork for the next generation of BMW electric vehicles.”
BMW discontinues the cutting-edge i3 electric car in favor of more widely available EVs.
The BMW i3, a compact electric vehicle with a lot of innovation, is no longer available, at least not in the United States.
According to a dealer warning cited by BMW Blog last week, production of the i3 for the US market will stop in July. As of right now, BMW North America has confirmed that.
The i3 was really unique when it was introduced in 2013 as BMW’s first attempt at a mass-market electric vehicle. It featured aluminum and carbon fiber-reinforced plastic construction, as well as novel battery packaging. The i3 deviated from automobile industry conventions in every regard, as opposed to just the powertrain, unlike most other EVs.
The unconventional design didn’t, however, generate a lot of sales. Although more than 200,000 i3s have been produced, they weren’t exactly mass-market cars either.
BMW had stated that the i3 would receive yet another battery upgrade in 2021, therefore this is a U-turn from that statement.
Even for the United States, where it was expected to last longer than other markets, BMW did announce in 2019 that the range-extended i3 REx was ceasing manufacturing soon.
The discontinuation of the i3 is a sign that BMW is shifting its focus to EVs based on current models and platforms.
The i4, which will be BMW’s smallest electric vehicle for the time being and will resemble the Tesla Model 3 in size, will debut in the first quarter of 2022. Unless you count the Mini Cooper SE from the British company owned by BMW.
The future iX crossover SUV appears to be built on a platform that is also used by gasoline-powered BMW 4 Series cars, just like the i4 appears to be. BMW does intend to launch a line of vehicles under the “Neue Klasse” brand that are built on an exclusive EV platform, but not until 2025.
Sadly, the BMW i3’s production has now come to an end.
Even if the inventive little BMW i3 has been on life support for some time, it is nevertheless difficult to accept BMW’s news that production has come to a stop.
Yes, the i3 has officially died eight and a half years after its debut. Just a few days ago, according to BMW, the 250,000th copy was produced in Leipzig, and the last ten vehicles received a special HomeRun edition specification.
The HomeRun variants come with 20-inch wheels, new Frozen Dark Grey or Frozen Red II paint finishes, and practically every i3 option imaginable. It sounds like certain component bins needed to be cleaned out. That entails a heated leather instrument panel, wireless charging, a rear-view camera, an electric glass roof, adaptive LED headlights, heated leather seats in “Vernasca Dark Truffle,” a Harman Kardon speaker system, and more.
Is the BMW i3 being phased out?
After nine years of production, BMW has declared that the i3 is no longer being made, putting an end to the inventive and long-lasting little electric car.
Just a few weeks after the model reached a production run of more than a quarter of a million, the final i3 came off the production line in Leipzig, Germany. Ten units of the i3 HomeRun Edition, an ultra-exclusive special edition model with the company’s “Frozen paint finish,” have been ordered to commemorate the event.
The i3 was originally seen by the public in concept form at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011, and when the production vehicle was introduced in 2013, it substantially resembled the show-car design.
The upright proportions, glass tailgate, two-tone paint job, and dipping shoulder line all deviated from the typical BMW design cues that customers had grown accustomed to. It launched BMW’s new I sub-brand, which was one of the factors contributing to the bizarre appearance (along with the i8 sports car).
Rear-hinged doors are always interesting, and they undoubtedly contributed to the i3’s personality, along with the interior. The technology was updated over the course of its existence to keep it feeling modern. The interior itself featured a low dash and window line for a light and airy atmosphere.
A custom platform made of a combination of aluminum, magnesium, and carbon fiber is positioned below the i3 to keep weight at just over a tonne. Due to the lack of weight, the vehicle’s ultimate fully-electric design had a maximum range of 190 miles.
The UK’s police, fire, and ambulance services all adopted the i3 due to its popularity with emergency services.
There won’t be a direct replacement for the i3, and a completely electric version of the 3 Series saloon is anticipated to receive the i3 badge. The iX1, an electric variant of the new X1 SUV, will be the company’s entry-level EV model.
Will the BMW i3 make a comeback?
During the i3’s 8-year product life, BMW produced 250,000 units, but the time has passed and BMW is now focusing on future electric vehicles. Because the EV market in 2022 will be significantly different from that in 2013 or 2014, BMW has made the decision that the i3 is no longer appropriate for this market.
What will BMW use in place of the i3?
As a sort of successor to the i3, BMW teases the new electric BMW iX1, which will make its appearance later this year alongside a new ICE X1.
The innovative, if somewhat dated, BMW i3 will likely continue to be sold until 2024, according to BMW. However, they later had a change of heart and announced last year that i3 manufacture would stop in July. But what will take the i3’s place?
Therefore, we need to look at the BMW X1 as the foundation for an i3 replacement. It will be updated this year and will be available not only in ICE versions but also as the BMW iX1 with an EV drivetrain. As BMW’s EVs start to really roll out, any i3 will now be a saloon take on the i4.
BMW has created a teaser sketch (above) to give us a preview of that arrival later this year. Although we already know what it will look like without the need for a BMW insider.
The new IX3 isn’t that dissimilar from the current model, which has a large kidney grille that has been squared off, blue highlights around the grille, and air vents that are likely to be closed off.
Although there are currently no data on the power or battery capacity, BMW claims that the iX1 will have a range of 250–270 miles and share its platform with the ICE X1 vehicles.
In the weeks and months ahead of the iX1’s release, which will happen shortly after the new ICE X1 comes, expect additional information about the device.