BMW Megacity to Get Baptized on February 21

The countdown until the arrival onto the market of BMW's first real take at the green vehicle sector has begun, with the first major step expected to be taken on February 21. At that date, the German manufacturer will announce, according to Autonews, the exact name of the model which will give birth to the i range.

Sources claimed at one point that the new electric vehicle range from BMW would wear the i designation, with the models themselves to be called something like 1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8 and i9.

Most of the details surrounding the model are already known, but the essentials are still left in the dark. The first Megacity, the first production model in the world to combine an electric drive with a carbon fiber body will be built on an aluminum chassis which will hold the batteries, electric motor and management system. The platform is called Life-Drive.

Powering it will be, most likely, the same electric drive train previewed in the ActiveE concept, namely a synchronous electric motor which develops 170 bhp and a maximum torque of 250 Nm.

As it happened with the MINI E, the Megacity will begin its life as a test vehicle, with the car maker now looking the best way to make it available to the masses. Neither sale nor long-term lease appeal to BMW's plans, however.

"We're looking for an alternative to traditional purchase or leasing of a vehicle," BMW Sales Chief Ian Robertson was quoted as saying by Automobilwoche. ''We don't want to sell the car, but rather the use of the car. The 'Car to Go' concept "is an interesting approach."