Official: BMW to Unwrap Production i3 EV on July 29 [w/Video]

Just last week, we showed you the production patents for the first electric car to go on regular sale from the BMW Group, the new i3, and today, the Germans announced that it will be officially revealed on July 29. Read more »

Production Version of New BMW i3 Revealed in Patent Drawings

This ladies and gentleman, is what the production version of BMW's foray into the pure and extended range electric vehicle category, the all-new i3, will look like when the Bavarian carmaker presents it to the public before the end of the summer and ahead of its public premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

While these are drawings, they are official patents of the production i3 previewed by a concept of the same name some two years ago at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show. To see the differences between the conceptual and the actual i3, we placed pictures of the two cars side by side.

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BMW Says 100,000 People Booked Test-Drives for the i3 EV

BMW has about 100,000 reservations from people who want to test the i3 electric vehicle, sales boss Ian Robertson said. He added that the carmaker also has “significant numbers of deposits” for the car, declining to give the exact number. The interest for the i3 leads the executive to believe the car will be a game-changer in the sector.

"We are confident that with the i3 and i8 we will shift the needle because we will shape some of this technology" in the EV sector, Robertson said at the Automotive News Europe Congress today.

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BMW Reportedly Investing €3 Billion to Develop its "i" EV Range

BMW will invest a total of €3 billion ($3.89 billion) for its range of “i” EV vehicles by the end of this year, according to a report from German newspaper Handelsblatt. The money comes from profits BMW makes in booming markets like China, Handelsblatt wrote, adding that the sum is based on calculations made together with the bank Credit Suisse. Read more »

Spied: New BMW i3 Drops More Camo, See it Side to Side With the Concept

The clock is ticking for the presentation of the first production model of BMW's newly formed "i" sub-brand, the i3 supermini that will be followed by the more expensive and upscale i8 sports coupe. Sales of the i3 hatchback are scheduled to start in the first quarter next year with BMW to offer the car with standard plug-in electric or optional range extender-assisted, electric-drive powertrains.

In these fresh spy shots that landed in our email box today, the i3 has shed sections of the swirly disguise from glasshouse and the front and rear aprons. To understand what has changed from the original concept displayed at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, we placed the images of the prototype next to the study.

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BMW Says New X4 Coming Next Year, Has Received Several Hundred Advanced Orders for i3

The BMW Group, the world's largest premium carmaker, held its annual Accounts Press Conference in Munich on Tuesday, where it forecast unchanged 2013 pretax profit, mainly due to lower sales in Europe and the costs for new model launches, boosting capacity and spending on new fuel-efficient technologies, despite aiming to sell more cars overall. Read more »

BMW to Offer Loaner Vehicles to i3 Owners to Deal with Range Anxiety

BMW will offer loaner vehicles to customers of its upcoming i3 EV in order to counter range anxiety, a feature that inevitably comes with electric vehicles.

According to a report from WardsAuto, the German automaker is developing a global program that provides free gasoline-powered loaner vehicles to buyers of its new i3 EV, to eliminate range anxiety on long trips.

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BMW i3 Concept Coupe to Make European Debut in Geneva, Range-Enhancing Features Detailed

The BMW i3 Concept Coupe, which was launched at the Los Angeles Motor Show last November, will make its European debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show alongside the i8 Concept Spyder.

This time, though, the Bavarian carmaker is not dwelling on the concepts so much as on the eDrive technology that will form the nucleus of all models in its “i” sub-brand.

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BMW Exec Confirms Two-Cylinder Motorcycle Engine for i3 REx

A BMW official has confirmed that the range-extender engine to be offered as an option on the battery-powered i3 supermini will be a two-cylinder gasoline unit sourced from the brand's motorcycle division and not the upcoming, larger displacement 1.5-liter three-cylinder petrol engine developed for the Bavarian group's automobiles.

Speaking to Autonews during last week's Detroit Motor Show, Herbert Diess, BMW's head of Research and Development, said that the range-extender engine option will be offered when the new i3 goes on sale in the fourth quarter of 2013, but he avoided to say how much it will cost.

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BMW Shows the New i3 Concept Coupe on the Move

Displayed for the first time in public at the LA Auto Show last November, the i3 Coupe is a conceptual spin-off from BMW's five-door i3 series that will soon be released in final production trim and go on sale worldwide in the end of 2013.

In this new video, we have the opportunity to see BMW's all-electric sub-compact on the road with the narrator giving us the primary details on the car including driving range and performance stats.

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Scoop: New BMW i3 Prototype Fitted with Final Production Ends

BMW's new urban electric mini has been spied wearing its production front and rear end parts, and in particular, the bumpers and lights. Previously, i3 prototypes were fitted with fake front and rear panels.

While it’s clear that the overall shape and styling will resemble the original i3 Concept car displayed at the 2011 Frankfurt Show, the production model's exterior will be toned down a notch with less fancy detailing.

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U Spy: BMW i3 Coupe Concept Parked on the Streets of LA

As we were reminded earlier this week, BMW has been working on electric cars for four decades now beginning with the 1602 Electric in 1972, and next year, it will introduce its first series production EV in the form of the all-new i3 five-door supermini.

At the recent LA Auto Show, BMW displayed a three-door concept version of the sub-compact model named the i3 Coupe, and it is this car that CarScoop reader Alfred H. spotted on the road this week.

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BMW Creates New i3 Concept Coupe EV with 168hp for the LA Auto Show

These are the first pictures of BMW's new i3 Concept Coupe, which is a slightly sportier looking but less practical, three-door version of the carmaker's carbon-fiber i3 hatchback that will enter production next year.

The i3 Concept Coupe will make its world premiere at this week's Los Angeles Auto Show, with the Bavarian automaker stating that it "demonstrates the potential for conceivably extending the model range", which in other words, means, expect a similar model to be added to the i3's range in the very near future.

While keeping the 5d model's lightweight structure and 2,570mm (101.2 inches) long wheelbase, BMW says that the Coupe has a "has a broader, lower-slung look". The designers also eliminated the see-through panels on the doors and the lower section of the rear tailgate.

The i3 Coupe study measures 3,964mm (156.1 inches) in length, 1,768mm (69.6 inches) wide and 1,555mm (61.2 inches) tall, making it roughly the same size as a Ford Fiesta hatchback.

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BMW Already Testing 1-Series Compact Models with its New Three-cylinder 1.5-liter Engines

As we were looking for pictures the other day for our story on the availability of the BMW Group's new 1.5-liter TwinPower Turbo engines in the United States and Canada, we discovered images of a prototype of the 1-Series five-door hatchback fitted with this powerplant on the company's website.

To date, while BMW has set the market introduction of the 1.5-liter TwinPower Turbo engine in diesel and petrol forms for 2013, it has only confirmed the i8 sports coupe and the i3 supermini gasoline-electric hybrids as the recipients of the three-cylinder units.

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BMW Group to Add New 1.5-liter Turbocharged 3-Cylinder Engine to U.S. Lineup

Downsizing is the road taken by most automakers in their effort to meet new fuel consumption and emission standards, and three-cylinders with forced induction are the new trend.

Ford will offer a 122HP 1.0-liter three-cylinder EcoBoost engine in the Mondeo mid-size family car and BMW has already revealed a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine that is part of the new TwinPower “family”.

On the sidelines of the Paris Auto Show, BMW sales and marketing boss Ian Robertson told reporters that the new 1.5-liter engine, which was displayed on the Active Hybrid Concept, “behaves like a six-cylinder, is half-of a six-cylinder and has the noise of a six-cylinder”.

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Spied: BMW i3 in Hybrid Range Extender Spec Testing in Southern Europe

The first model of BMW's highly ambitious "i" progamme is the i3 five-door hatchback, which was caught by our scoop photographers undergoing hot weather testing in Southern Europe.

The prototype pictured here with the "Hybrid Test Vehicle" decal on the tailgate is believed to be the so called "REX" version equipped with a normally-aspirated 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine that acts as a range extender charging the battery to generate extra miles.

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BMW Says i8 Plug-in Hybrid Coupe to Cost 'More than €100,000'

We're still a good two years away from the market launch of the most anticipated model of BMW's new i sub-brand, the i8 Coupe, but the Bavarian automaker has already outlined a pricing strategy for the plug-in hybrid.

Speaking to reporters at the grand opening of the i sub-brand’s first sales outlet worldwide on London’s Park Lane, BMW global sales chief Ian Robertson said that the hybrid sports car will sell for "more than €100,000 (about US$125,400 or £80,600)" - apparently in Europe, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

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BMW Shows i3 Concept with Recolored Interior

The opening of BMW's first dedicated i Store in London was accompanied by the presentation of an updated version of the i3 Concept.

While some have been spreading the word that this particular i3 Concept features a newer interior that is closer to the production model, this is not true.

What BMW's designers did is simply change the colors of the cabin and add different materials on the seating surfaces and eucalyptus wood trim on the dashboard, nothing more, nothing less.

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BMW Opens its First Dedicated i Store Worldwide in London

The introduction of the new "i" sub-brand for BMW's upcoming pure electric, plug-in hybrid and other alternative fuel vehicles was only the beginning as the Bavarian carmaker is taking the project to a whole new level with the opening of the first dedicated i Store worldwide in London's Park Lane. Read more »