Back in 2013 had launched BMW i3 electric-hatchback in the year 2013 and it was the first ever mass-produced electric vehicle of the automaker. This was a small car with four seats, back doors which are rear-hinged and a frame which was made from the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. The car stood apart dramatically from the lineup of the brand.
By design, BMW is not trying to convince the core customers to abandon their sporty sedans and their roomy SUVs. Its goal was for enticing the early EV adopters to give the automaker a go.
This is a plan which has worked very well. When the i3 started to pop up on the US dealership lots, the loyalists initially ignored it but the newer customers were looking for the car.
However in the year 2021, the company had made an attempt to focus once again on its core customers and set a goal of the BMW sales being electric by 2030.
In the month of January 2022, the company said that it is going to completely stop the production of i3 and instead look into the longer, larger range options of Electric vehicles such as the iX and i4 which are the cars that are meant to look a lot more like the other models of the brand.
In the nine years when it was in the market, the company sold most of the i3 to people who were first time BMW buyers however data suggests that it sold less than 50,000 units and sold often on steep discounts. This is a big moment as the company is going to stop production of the vehicle which was brought into the market with hopes of reaching a new market and also an opportunity for a larger lot to own a BMW for the first time.