This is pretty interesting news – BMW’s North American CEO Ludwig Willisch has indicated that the BMW i3 electric car will be priced around the price of a ‘well equipped’ BMW 3-Series, although an official price will only be set in stone closer to the launch date by the end of 2013.
What ‘well equipped’ actually means is anyone’s guess. In Malaysia, the 328i goes for close to RM300k while the ActiveHybrid 3 with 50% duty exemption goes for just under RM400k. Let’s say we take the 328i price and remove the duties – could we be looking at an RM200k price equivalent?
There will be two versions of the BMW i3, and price above is for the pure EV version. For those who still have doubts on whether an EV’s range would satisfy their requirements. BMW will also offer a higher priced version with a range extender, which will use a 650cc petrol motorcycle engine to power an auxiliary electricity generator.
Currently there is only one EV on sale in Malaysia – the Mitsubishi i-MIEV. ETCM has brought in the Nissan Leaf and seem to be building an EV charging infrastructure but the Leaf itself is not available for purchase and is only used during promotional activities. We’ve also sighted the Renault Fluence EV.
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been a long time since i saw paul tan making so many posts. nice!
Pure EV, future of automobile. BMW, never failed engineering team, I expecting high on you.
Same as 3- Series level? Seriously, with that face? Well, good luck with that
drive it to believe it.. Driving an electric car is totally different from a conventional one. Even the pedal feeling is different. One have to get to use driving an EV car before getting the hang on it.
Even with the uncertainty about the price, I think this car is likely to do well. BMW always makes a quality product and EV cars are growing in popularity.