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      07-11-2019, 11:56 AM   #24
mkoesel
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Drives: No BMW for now
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yousefnjr View Post
I don’t know the costs myself, but Sandy Munro says here that in his i3 teardown they found the i3 with its CFRP goodness to be a money maker actually.
I'll check out the video, thanks.

Either way, BMW has already hinted that the platform cannot be scaled for use in future higher volume vehicles. Part of the problem is that you need to get the costs to a point where starting MSRP is in the low or mid $30k range. Sure, the i3 is a premium vehicle from a premium manufacturer, but the bar has already been set at $35k by the Model 3 and that's all people are going to think about from here on out, regardless of the tricks that were used to get the price to that point.

This means that other competitors are targeting under $40k for their entry level premium EVs sometime next decade (especially as battery costs decline), and in order to compete BMW will need a new platform. Even Fröhlich basically admits that in the Jalopnik interview, and that is why the talk of partnerships with Mercedes or someone else makes sense.
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