BMW is also on its way to becoming an electric car manufacturer.

The iX and the i4 are brand new to the range, the iX3 has been around for a year, the iX1 is to follow soon, and the Mini E is also part of the family.

Only the i3, with which the manufacturer caused such a sensation nine years ago, now has to go.

Contrary to original announcements that the four-meter-long, unusual city car would be built by 2023 or 2024, it will now be over in the summer.

The production capacity in Leipzig is needed for the iX1 and the electric Mini Countryman, according to Munich.

Boris Smith

Editor in the "Technology and Engine" department.

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This says goodbye to a rather unique car, with which BMW once prepared to push electromobility.

It was a very bold project, pretty much everything was and is different, the body is made of aluminum and carbon, the interior was built on sustainability as early as 2013, with the doors opening in opposite directions and a styling that made it immediately recognizable as an i3 and therefore as an electric car , signs were set.

But the i3 was never a beautiful car.

The customer didn't really go along with it at the beginning.

Maybe it was just too early.

There was no funding yet, and this editorial team had to report a range of 100 kilometers on December 24, 2013, an indictment of failure.

The starting price at the time was 34,950 euros.

"A car for the price of a BahnCard 100, which is only used regionally," was the summary.

Today, an i3 actually costs the end customer less, because the subsidy can still be deducted from the basic price of 39,000 euros, and thanks to new battery technology, it can still travel a good 200 kilometers.

The model with an additional motorcycle engine as a range extender, whose space requirement and nine-liter tank were already designed into it, has not been offered since 2108.

BMW will have built 250,000 i3 by the summer, which should have generated sales of around five billion euros.

Ultimately, the project was still profitable, and one certainly learned a lot with the i3.

Incidentally, it sold better and better in the end, with 12,178 new registrations in Germany last year, it ranked 10th in the electric car ranking, ahead of its cousin Mini E and the Opel Corsa E. And the name lives on, BMW is in China call the upcoming electric 3-sedan i3.