Just a rumor, hope it's not true...

After the recent "we never said we were really going to do plug-ins" news from Audi, rumors are floating around that BMW may delay or even discontinue many of its plug-in "i" line of vehicles because of concerns over lack of demand, Automobile is reporting.

BMW executives are now talking about shelving plans for both vehicles because the governments in many countries where the models will be sold are pulling back on plug-in incentives. To further complicate matters, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure isn't as far along as expected. Automobile adds that BMW also put plans for the i1 city car and i5 van on hold.

BMW getting cold feet with i3 and i8 electric vehicle plans?

With our daily commute about to go from 2 1/2 miles a day to 40, we plan to take a serious look at an i3. With fuel around $9.00/gallon and a £5,000 govt. subsidy, an electric car comes close to making economic sense. If BMW drops out, there is always Renault, but I'd rather have a BMW. (The UK wait list for the Leaf grew so long that Nissan stopped offering reservations)


There are public charging stations in the London / Oxford area and also around the Nissan plant.

There are no public charging stations in my local area. Just a single charging station halfway between here and Manchester would make a huge difference.

I can see them pushing the date back but they've put a lot into the production of the car already. Not sure how far along Audi was with their car.

Tim

Originally Posted by TheCritic

After the recent "we never said we were really going to do plug-ins" news from Audi, rumors are floating around that BMW may delay or even discontinue many of its plug-in "i" line of vehicles because of concerns over lack of demand, Automobile is reporting.

BMW executives are now talking about shelving plans for both vehicles because the governments in many countries where the models will be sold are pulling back on plug-in incentives. To further complicate matters, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure isn't as far along as expected. Automobile adds that BMW also put plans for the i1 city car and i5 van on hold.

BMW getting cold feet with i3 and i8 electric vehicle plans?

Not a chance...way too much invested by BMW into the i Brand ...I already know who will be running the i brand dept for BMW NA so it's full steam ahead

...the infrastructure is in place...it's just a matter of plugging into the power grid