Munich – BMW is planning to expand its range of all-electric cars to sell alongside the innovative i3 city runabout, Germany’s Handelsblatt economic newspaper reports.
Enhanced technology in the i3 will extend its electric-only range to 160 kilometres, said the report.
The i8 supercar is meanwhile expected to spawn an i9 sibling with more power on tap from the combined petrol engine and electric motor drive-train used in the luxury sportster.
BMW is also fettling a pure electric SUV, which is set to debut around 2018, the report said.
“There is plenty of scope between the i3 and the i8 in badge terms,” BMW chief Harald Krueger told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper. “I can’t be any more specific than that.”
The Munich-maker said it sold 12,652 i-badged electric models in the first half of 2015 – a tiny proportion of the 1.1 BMW million cars sold globally. By comparison, California-based Tesla Motors sold 22 657 pure-electric models over the same period.
The i3 is not a common sight in Germany, and the car remains a niche product.
The German government aims to get 1 million pure electric and hybrid cars on roads by 2020. Experts say the target is unrealistic unless Berlin offers buyers tax breaks as an incentive to buy the more expensive electric cars.
DPA