Oliver Zipse, the new BMW CEO, said the company would keep the all-electric i3 in the lineup.
He did not specify whether a second generation was planned, though. An earlier rumor claimed that the compact EV would be discontinued in favor of a new all-electric SUV called the iX1.
The original i3 supplemented the BMW model range in 2013. It came equipped with a modest-sized 22-kWh battery, which gave it 190 kilometers (118 miles) of NEDC-rated range. Three years later, the company upped the capacity to 33 kWh, thus increasing the range to 300 km (186 miles). Last year, another refresh introduced a 42.2-kWh battery sufficient for 359 km (223 mi) NEDC and between 285 and 310 km (177 – 192 mi) WLTP range. Now that the rumor about the impending discontinuation of the i3 has been debunked, we expect it to keep increasing its battery volume (likely to within 52 – 58 kWh) and range (likely to 400 km / 250 miles, WLTP-rated).
The standard i3 packs 170 hp (127 kW) and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque, while the higher-spec i3s has 184 hp (137 kW) and 270 Nm (199 lb-ft). Both could be purchased with the optional motor-generator add-on called the Range Extender (or simply Rex), but it went out of sale in Europe due to low demand (originally around 75%, lately down to below 50%).
Despite this, the customer interest towards the i3 series is steadily growing. The year 2018 became the most successful in the entire history of the model with 24,252 cars sold in Europe, followed by 20,000+ sold in the first 8 months of 2019. U.S. sales are substantially lower at 6,117 in 2018 and 3,363 in the period from January to September 2019.