BMW i manager Oliver Walter introduces the concept i3 coupe at the LA Auto Show |
It shares the same drive platform as the 4 door i3, so most of the engineering is already done. All BMW would have to do is make the different passenger cell and attach it to the same drive platform that the 4 door will be using. Now Im sure its not exactly that simple, but I am also confident most of the drive platform would be exactly the same.
The i3s life-drive platform |
Many of the people I spoke to were very excited about the coupe, even more so than for the 4 door which is going to be the initial i3 offering. While I liked the look of the coupe, Personally Im more interested in the utility of the 4 door. The access to the rear seating area is so much better with the coach(suicide) doors on the 4 door. Getting in and out as well as loading and unloading cargo from the rear seats will be infinitely easier with the coach doors and I dont think it takes away from the styling at all, especially since there are no outside door handles for the rear doors. I also think another reason why many others were so excited about the coupe was because looked closer to a production car than the four door i3 does. Lets face it, the 4 door concept car is getting a little long in the tooth and people are getting tired of looking at the glass doors and roof. It was introduced about a year and a half ago and other than a different color interior there has been no changes to it. I get a lot of inquiries about when will BMW show us the production version. The concept coupe has a new, refreshed interior that quite honestly looks stunning and ready for production. I suspect this is very close to what the production i3 interior will look like and I hope BMW doesnt change much because it looks awesome as it currently is.
The openness of the i3 is hard to capture in pictures. Although it is a small car, the interior is spacious. During the presentation Walter said the i3 will have roughly the same interior volume as a three series. Thats considerably more space than our ActiveEs have now even though the i3 is much smaller. Because of the life-drive architecture and the elimination of the transmission tunnel needed on front engine internal combustion engine cars, the i3s passenger compartment is much more spacious than a comparable gas car of its size would be.
So while Im really happy to see BMW thinking about expanding the i3s line to offer different variations, what Im really looking forward to is finally seeing what the production i3 will look like. We are tantalizingly close now after nearly four years of waiting. Im figuring Ill get my wish in about three months in Geneva? Anyone else care to guess when and where BMW will show off the real i3?
Heres some more pictures from the LA Auto show:
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