700 BMW ActiveE Drivers Now On The Market — Some Asking For A Deal
Originally published on EV Obsession.
The BMW ActiveE two-year trial program in which 700 people got to learn and show what BMW ActiveE electric vehicles could do is coming to a close. A lot of the drivers, of course, want to keep driving electric, but they have to turn in their beautiful and high-performance BMW ActiveE vehicles within the coming weeks.
BMW is trying to funnel them into buying or leasing a BMW i3 or BMW i8, but there are a lot of electric cars on the market now. With ~700 happy electric vehicle drivers all of a sudden on the market, it really would be an excellent time for electric car manufacturers to try to woo them by offering a special short-term deal. That’s exactly the pitch one BMW ActiveE member recently made over in the GM-Volt forum, specifically targeting Volt dealers. Forum member “Optimist” wrote:
New Volts needed by 700 BMW Active E drivers
All of the 700, BMW Active E drivers are reaching the end of their driving experience with BMW. Their cars must be returned almost immediately and certainly over/during the coming 60 days. The replacement vehicle that BMW would like these drivers to move into is the new i3, due here in May, 2014. Current drivers may extend their expiring lease until that date if they commit to a purchase of the i3. Many drivers express regret over losing the Active E, and are for many reasons less than impressed with the i3. These drivers have installed 240volt/30amp systems therefor they are ready to go. The Volt is a proven sophisticated option for this group so I invite General Motors/Chevrolet Dealers to pitch us a deal, NOW. There are 700 of us and most are in California!
I thought I’d help get the word out there for these guys and girls as well in order to give them a hand. Best of luck to them!
(Share the word to help these early adopters!)
Image Credit: BMW USA
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This car was one of the only evs out there which was pretty cool looking (aka normal!). Its sad they have to turn them in! Let them keep/buy them…though I guess some may be studied for long term effects/wear, but still..I doubt all 700 will be under a microscope.
The 700 BMW drivers have been informed by e-mail that they have one week to order a new i3, or return their Active E at it’s lease anniversary which occurs for all of them in March. There is NO i3 lease program, you must buy the i3, period. Most of the drivers have not been told this.
The REX, range extending motor is under review in California and may not be useful in many ways. The i3’s will not be in users hands until “May” which will probably be June. Stripped of their cars in March, these 700 drivers must look to other options for transportation. What sort of crazy expectation is BMW suffering from?
Please pitch them a deal on the car you would recommend.
Your marketing ideas have to be more productive than what BMW is doing.
Thanks for that perspective.
That’s a no-brainer for GM. Gain some cheap positive publicity at BM’s expense.
It really depends on whether the Active E drivers wish to depart a pure electric drive for an electric car with a range extender; where the electric range is about half of what they were used to. whilst I drive a Volt and certainly advocate Active E drives seriously consider one, I also accept its possibly a step in the wrong direction for many of them – I would be happy to be wrong as the Volt is a great car.
They should be able to buy the active e’s! …what will BMW do with these 700 vehicles?? We know what GM did with EV-1. What a waste.
The “volt” is less of an EV than the active e…Nissan & Tesla need to make some offers. GM & B.O. would be all too happy to have converts to their PHEV.
There are also other possibilities for lease BEVs…honda fit EV, fiat 500e, smart electric drive…