BMW, Audi, and Mercedes should be prepped for this, since they’ve already been walloped in the large luxury sedan class. Nonetheless, what’s coming is like nothing they could truly prep for. These automakers have been trading wins with each other in various monthly and annual races, but Usain Bolt just came to town and is soon joining the track days.
The Model 3 is placed at the bottom of the premium sedan market. Of course, being a unique vehicle in a heavily undersupplied niche market, it competes with models well beyond the small premium sedan market, so definitely don’t consider this to be anything close to a comprehensive global competition summary — the Model 3 will be attracting people who would have otherwise bought a Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Ford Mustang, Nissan LEAF, and BMW Z3 (me 20 years ago). But I think this is a decent list of gasmobiles (gasoline-powered cars) whose sales will be remarkably body slammed by the Model 3.
BMW is perhaps the automaker most under threat from Tesla Motors. Its brand is about innovation, sporty design, and stellar performance — all in a sophisticated, premium package. Hmm, that sounds like Tesla too, doesn’t it?
I haven’t been watching too closely in recent months, but while pulling BMW i3 sales data for our monthly electric car sales reports, I noticed that BMW USA sales are down … dramatically. BMW passenger cars were down 17% in May (2017 vs 2016) and 11% for the year through May (2017 vs 2016). And, by the way, MINI brand sales were down 12% in May and the year through May.
BMW may be planning to release a new electric hatchback through the company’s i Series sub-brand — if recently surfaced patent images are anything to go by. The images in question accompanied a filing in Japan, and certainly look like what one would expect a BMW i Series hatchback to … [continued]
And for a preview of a preview, here are some details on the BMW i4, an electric sport coupe, from sister site Gas2: The BMW i4 coupe could be based on the upcoming BMW i3 all-electric sedan (with optional range extender?) according to a report in French car magazine l’Automobile. … [continued]
