Photo: Catalin Garmacea
Dark clouds seem to be looming over BMW at the moment, as reports are coming in claiming that the sales of i3 electric cars in Germany are not up on par with what was expected. In a recent report from German publication kfz, various dealers stepped up and claimed that they are not nearly close to the targets set at the start of the year.
While BMW toots its own horn and claims that the demand far outpaces the manufacturing capabilities for the i3, the situation doesn’t look that good on its own, home market. After three quarters, many dealers in good old ‘Deutschland’ claim that they sold less than half the targeted numbers. But what are those numbers?
BMW set some really hard to hit targets for the i3. According to undisclosed sources, the 43 i dealers (because the i sub-brand has its own dealerships) were asked to sell at least 5,000 units over the course of 2014. At the moment, the grand total adds up to as few as 1,900 and the prospects aren’t looking good at all, with sales dropping in September to just 131 over the entire country, according to registration numbers.
Even so, the company is still trying to attract more customers with big incentives. At the moment, they are offering customers a plan that costs €555 ($692) a month and includes the insurance and a limit of 3,333 km (2,071 miles) for the lease.
However, the biggest problem they have to solve is the waiting list that is now spreading across 4 to 6 months. Diminishing the waiting time would be the biggest improvement they could make towards selling more cars and up until now, the main problem was the transportation of CFRP from the States to the assembly lines in Germany.
The Atlantic Ocean and its storms had a lot to do with this and therefore delays happened. However, it would seem like those issues are no longer a problem and things could start looking better. Overall, the numbers for the i3 are not bad at all, the company selling over 10,000 units so far this year. However, when you’re BMW you always want more.
BMW set some really hard to hit targets for the i3. According to undisclosed sources, the 43 i dealers (because the i sub-brand has its own dealerships) were asked to sell at least 5,000 units over the course of 2014. At the moment, the grand total adds up to as few as 1,900 and the prospects aren’t looking good at all, with sales dropping in September to just 131 over the entire country, according to registration numbers.
Is it the i3’s fault or the EV concept as a whole?
As it turns out, even with such small sales (1,900 units are nothing considering the size of the German group) the i3 is still accounting for 30 percent of the EV market at the moment. Considering it was introduced this year, that’s not a bad result whatsoever.Even so, the company is still trying to attract more customers with big incentives. At the moment, they are offering customers a plan that costs €555 ($692) a month and includes the insurance and a limit of 3,333 km (2,071 miles) for the lease.
However, the biggest problem they have to solve is the waiting list that is now spreading across 4 to 6 months. Diminishing the waiting time would be the biggest improvement they could make towards selling more cars and up until now, the main problem was the transportation of CFRP from the States to the assembly lines in Germany.
The Atlantic Ocean and its storms had a lot to do with this and therefore delays happened. However, it would seem like those issues are no longer a problem and things could start looking better. Overall, the numbers for the i3 are not bad at all, the company selling over 10,000 units so far this year. However, when you’re BMW you always want more.
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