[0] http://www.bmw.ca/content/dam/bmw/common/all-models/i-series...
[0] http://www.bmw.ca/content/dam/bmw/common/all-models/i-series...
I see i3's daily and they blend in well. The only thing that looks strange are the extremely narrow wheels. I think the image you linked is of the concept car the real thing looks more like [1].
[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/BMW_i3_0...
Until car manufacturers can make an electric car that looks at least as normal as a civic, Americans will shy away. A huge part of the model 3's success is that not only does it look normal, it looks _good_.
Electric car styling must'nt do anything. The available demographic reaches far past those in cities who want a tiny car. Car manufacturers just need to make cars that look normal so people will buy them for having a car's sake, not because they want to announce their vehicle is electric.
I think this causes them to want to make their Eva look weird.
The Nissan Leaf looks fine for the class of car it's in, but why's it got to be called a leaf.
Given all that it looks surprisingly normal in my opinion.
BMW and Mercedes have lost their edge in styling, any experimentation is a good thing.
BMW is offering leases that have a TCO around $300/mo: http://www.bmwusa.com/special-offers/lease.2016-BMW-i3-with-..., with a $199/mo sticker price. Especially given the sticker price of the car, that's a pretty fantastic deal.
Most current electric and hybrids have much better lease deals than purchase deals. The three-year leases also make sense because by the time they expire, the market will have shaken out in terms of the Tesla Model III, Chevy Bolt, and other 200-mile-range cars.
1: Oh, the deal that we were advertising that I specifically told you over the phone was available actually isn't because [mumble mumble types of bullshit about how that car is a demo etc etc bullshit] but this one comes out to only $10/mo more.
2: Here's the insurance you should buy for the wheels, for $2k, because some asshole at BMW thought that 19" wheels looked really cool, and the metal parts of the really cool 19" wheel stick WAY OUT past the end of the really expensive 19" tire, and you're guaranteed to ruin the wheel the first time you try to parallel park the car, and each of these wheels costs $1500.
3: And furthermore we really suggest you purchase this other insurance policy which covers among other things replacement of the headlamp windows, in case they turn yellow over time. Because, you know, there's no assurance that just because you leased a car with a sticker price of $58k doesn't mean that they didn't make the headlights out of the cheapest plastic they could get their hands on.
4: And more or less a constant parade of nickel-and-dime stuff until finally I got up and walked out.
I really fail to see how anyone can make one of these cars pencil out. The operating costs are not all that low. You really need to bring a very high intangible value to driving an electric car before it appears rational.
Internal combustion cars are different, a well-maintained one can be nearly as good years later as it was on the day it left the factory. No chance of that happening on an EV if you don't get a new battery.
Without multiple parties competing to issue the battery leases, my suspicion is that the primary benefit is to the manufacturer in the form of higher prices than an insurance or warranty model for the finances.
If you have any lease already it's only $2500 down. If you make under like $250k you get $2500 back from CA, $4000 if you make under $36k
That is all 36 months, 10k miles per year. I've been researching the EV deals here for like a month and this is basically the cheapest you can get any car for - $2,922.76 total lease cost if you don't have a lease and qualify for the $2500, only $422.76 if you have a lease and qualify for $4000
My guess is it totally sucks though
Surely that's the Leaf?