Originally published on EV Obsession.
A number of prominent engineers behind BMW’s various electric “i Series” offerings have left the company to join a new electric vehicle company in China, according to recent reports.
Amongst those who have left is a 20-year BMW veteran that was intimately involved in the creation of the i8 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sports car — Carsten Breitfeld.
The new startup is apparently called Future Mobility Corporation. The company is being backed by Tencent Holdings.
Our sister site Gas2 provides more info:
Breitfeld will become the new CEO of Future Mobility and will be joined by three other senior members of BMW’s i division — Dirk Abendroth, who developed electric powertrains for the i-series; Benoit Jacob, who was head of design at BMW i; and Henrik Wenders, head of BMW i product management.
Their defection comes as BMW struggles to move its i division forward. The i3 was ground breaking when it was first introduced in 2011, but it has remained relatively unchanged since then. The i3 is in line for a larger battery and the i8 reportedly will go topless soon as well, but those developments are small potatoes compared to the blockbuster news coming from Tesla on a regular basis.
Rumors about a third product for the i division are rampant, but senior company officials say whatever it is, it won’t come to market before 2020. “That’s too long for young people who want to change the world,” a person close to the company tells The Wall Street Journal. It is believed Breitfeld and the others simply got bored waiting for the company to figure out where it wants to go next with the i division.
I can’t say that I blame them (if true). The i3 and i8 are arguably great cars, but BMW really doesn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry with regard to electric vehicles — helping a startup try to break into the rapidly changing EV sector certainly does sound more challenging and interesting. And with the amount of money some of the wealthier citizens of China have been throwing at EVs lately, I’m sure that the compensation is “fair” as well.
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Electrifying Industrial Heat for Steel, Cement, & More
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
