The i3 electric car was BMW’s first foray into the world of electrified vehicles for mass production, and the quirky hatch served as a great learning platform, thanks to its unique carbon fiber construction and battery technology. By some metrics, the i3 is considered to be a successful model for the Bavarians, but there are many pundits that see the i3 as a missed opportunity to properly challenge the “cool kid of the town” – the Tesla.
The Bavarian brand will go through a pretty significant change in the coming years. By 2025, the lineup of BMW cars will be drastically different from the lineup we know today. By 2021, the BMW iNext Concept will become a production car, along with a Tesla Model 3-fighting BMW i4. An iX3 will be launched first though, as the first crossover from BMW with a fully electric drivetrain.
But the future of the i3 might not look so optimistic. According to our sources, the i3 will most likely not have a successor, a hint similar to the one given at the 2018 New York Auto Show by Stefan Juraschek, head of electric powertrain for BMW AG.
“These cars are very unique [i3 and i8],” Juraschek said. “These two cars were not [developed] as a family that we can expand in different [ways] or maybe five or 10 derivatives.”
BMW is overhauling its core platforms to accommodate combustion, electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains. Those next-generation architectures will be ready for production vehicles after 2021, Juraschek said, and the componentry for electric vehicles will be grouped into a modular kit compatible with the architecture.
