BMW is now officially taking reservations for its fully electric iX3 in Norway for buyers willing to drop a 15,000 Norwegian krone (€1,550 or $1,800) deposit. The fully refundable deposit locks in a spot in line for the highly anticipated fully electric sport utility vehicle when it moves into production in 2020.
Reservations officially opened up on September 1st for Norwegian customers in what has become the leading market in the world for electric car sales, with more than half of all new vehicles sold in the country being a plug-in vehicle of some sort. The €1,500 down payment is fully refundable, and BMW assured customers that there would be no waiting lines and that everyone who reserved now would be able to place their orders for the first produced serial models.
It’s exciting to see BMW taking this next step into electric vehicles, though it still lacks price and a formal production version. It was first unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show back in April of this year as a vehicle that looks so normal that it represents a significant departure back to the mean for BMW’s i sub-brand. BMW’s i3 and i8 used their bold, divisive exterior designs to shout from the rooftops just how different they were.
The iX3, on the other hand, looks just like a normal X3 for all intents and purposes. Said another way, my wife would love it. She opted for the Mercedes B-Class Electric over the BMW i3 specifically because it looked “like a normal car.” The normalization of electric vehicles is a great thing and opens up plug-in options to consumers who might have gone to the other side of the lot at a dealership simply because the electric options didn’t look “normal,” like my wife.
The iX3 will arrive to face off with the Mercedes EQC and its estimated 223 miles of fully electric range. The iX3 sports a 70 kWh battery and 150 kW charging speed that make it an attractive option for many buyers around the world.
Source: Electrive
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