Photo: Catalin Garmacea
It looks like BMW was taken by surprise with the way the i3 was adopted throughout the US. The German company wanted to offer a clean means of transportation for big, crowded and polluted cities around the country and ended up selling it to a completely different demographic.
They, as well as I did, supposed that places like New York City, Boston and the West Coast (mainly represented by California) will be the ones to adopt the i3 with open hearts. It turns out it’s not the case.
While the Golden State is indeed the one that took the lion’s share of the total sold in the USA, it is followed by Texas and southern Florida in the rankings, according to Ludwig Willisch, CEO of BMW North America.
Speaking with Automotive News on the floor of the 2015 New York Auto Show, he said that the i3 isn’t all that appealing to city folks but rather to those that live on the outskirts or in remote towns.
What’s extremely surprising is that Texas is ranked second in this ad-hoc top, followed by southern Florida, the southern states not being known for their eco-friendly approach towards transportation. And then again, this goes to show why stereotypes should be avoided. Numbers speak louder than words.
On the other hand, the sole state that isn’t a surprise in the top three, California, has the biggest demand in the entire country, even hosting two dealerships that sell only i cars at the moment: Crevier BMW in Santa Ana and Stevens Creek in Santa Clara.
According to Mr. Willisch, BMW is selling 15 to 30 i3s a month in the San Francisco area alone and that is close to the rate of intake the company expects in the following months: 12,000 units a year. In 2014, the Germans sold 6,092 i3s in the US.
On the other hand, the second i car in the range, the i8 has a soaring demand. Recently BMW doubled the production of the hybrid plug-in sports car to keep up with the sales but even so, the waiting list is usually around four months long.
While the Golden State is indeed the one that took the lion’s share of the total sold in the USA, it is followed by Texas and southern Florida in the rankings, according to Ludwig Willisch, CEO of BMW North America.
Speaking with Automotive News on the floor of the 2015 New York Auto Show, he said that the i3 isn’t all that appealing to city folks but rather to those that live on the outskirts or in remote towns.
What’s extremely surprising is that Texas is ranked second in this ad-hoc top, followed by southern Florida, the southern states not being known for their eco-friendly approach towards transportation. And then again, this goes to show why stereotypes should be avoided. Numbers speak louder than words.
On the other hand, the sole state that isn’t a surprise in the top three, California, has the biggest demand in the entire country, even hosting two dealerships that sell only i cars at the moment: Crevier BMW in Santa Ana and Stevens Creek in Santa Clara.
According to Mr. Willisch, BMW is selling 15 to 30 i3s a month in the San Francisco area alone and that is close to the rate of intake the company expects in the following months: 12,000 units a year. In 2014, the Germans sold 6,092 i3s in the US.
On the other hand, the second i car in the range, the i8 has a soaring demand. Recently BMW doubled the production of the hybrid plug-in sports car to keep up with the sales but even so, the waiting list is usually around four months long.
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