BMW Oz electrifies

BMW Australia will launch its first two plug-in vehicles, the i3 and i8, a little over a year after it completes its three-model hybrid model line-up.

While the ActiveHybrid 3 ($97,700) and ActiveHybrid 5 ($122,900) will be joined by the ActiveHybrid 7 ($222,000) in January, both the i3 and i8 plug-ins have attracted strong early interest ahead of their simultaneous arrival here in the first half of 2014.

BMW says it already holds paid deposits for at least six examples of the i8 super-coupe, based on an indicative price in line with the Audi R8 Coupe, which opens at $271,000 for the V8 and extends to $350,800 for the V10-powered 5.2 FSI.

That means BMW Australia’s flagship electrified model will cost less than the circa-$300,000 price previously indicated by the company’s sales and marketing chief Tom Noble.

The i8 Roadster to be shown in concept guise at next week’s Los Angeles motor show, meantime, should be priced in line with the R8 Spyder (from $299,900).

“We will pleasantly surprise buyers by being well below that figure ($300,000),” said BMW Australia spokesman Piers Scott.

BMW has also received a number of local expressions of interest for the smaller i3, for which no indicative pricing has been revealed because the company is still “working through battery warranty issues and whether leasing the car as a whole will be better for customers”.

BMW has confirmed that the plug-in i3 city-car will almost certainly be made available here as a range-extending petrol-electric plug-in hybrid like the Holden Volt, rather than in purely all-electric guise as it will be in Europe from mid-2013.

However, it will not divulge sales forecasts for either i-car, or its three-model hybrid line-up; suffice to say the hybridised 3 and 7 Series are expected to be more popular than the ActiveHybrid 5, which is based on the slow-selling 535i sedan.

All three BMW hybrids employ the same turbocharged 3.0-litre petrol-electric rear-wheel drive system, but while the ActiveHybrid 7 is based on the volume-selling 740i sedan, the ActiveHybrid 3 is billed as the world’s quickest (0-100km/h) hybrid.

In between its hybrid and electric vehicle rollouts, BMW will release a parade of additional, redesigned and facelifted models in Australia, where the German brand recently released the M135i hot-hatch and M6 Coupe and Convertible.

This week’s launch of the facelifted X1 compact crossover will be followed by the facelifted 7 Series limousine line-up in December, the ActiveHybrid 7 in January and the new 3 Series Touring in February, including the 320d ($58,900) and 320i ($62,600).

Mid-2013 will see BMW Oz launch a facelifted Z4, the all-new high-riding 3 Series GT fast-back and all-new M6 Gran Coupe (to debut in LA next week), with a facelifted 5 Series sedan, wagon and GT line-up and new X5 range to follow late in 2013.

Also due here late next year is the successor to the existing 3 Series Coupe, the 4 Series Coupe, while alongside the i3 and i8 in early 2104 will be the 4 Series Convertible. Both 4 Series models are expected to debut at the Geneva motor show next March, before being launched in Europe in June.

While the X3-based X4 ‘coupe-SUV’ is confirmed for production but not for Australia yet, confirmed 2014 releases for Australia will include the new M3 sedan, new M4 Coupe and, late in the year, replacements for the current 1 Series two-doors in the 2 Series Coupe and Convertible.

Completing the renewal of nearly the entire BMW model line-up by 2015 will be a redesigned Z4 and the new M2 Coupe and Convertible, followed by BMWs first people-mover, which is also likely to wear 2 Series and, perhaps, Touring badges.

BMW's first front-wheel drive model and first direct rival for the Mercedes-Benz B-Class is based on the same new UKL platform that will underpin the third-generation MINI in 2014 and previewed by the Concept Active Tourer at September’s Paris motor show.

The new model naming strategy will see BMW eventually produce a range of passenger models with nameplates bearing every number between 1 and 7, and a family of X-badged crossovers suffixed with every number between 1 and 6 – except X2.

That should change in the latter half of this decade when, in its drive to hit two million annual sales by 2020, BMW produces a whole new sub-family of at least 12 UKL/MINI-based front-drive BMW compacts, including the next-generation 1 Series hatch and sedan, 2 Series coupe, convertible and people-mover, and X1 and X2 crossovers - and maybe even an all-new supercar to join the i8 eco-coupe, potentially badged the M8.

What’s coming from BMW:

X1 facelift - November
7 Series facelift – December
ActiveHybrid 7 – January
3 Series Touring redesign – February
Z4 facelift – June 2013
3 Series GT – mid-2013
M6 Gran Coupe – September 2013
5 Series facelift – September 2013
4 Series coupe – September 2013
X5 redesign – December 2013
4 Series convertible – early 2014
i3 and i8 – first half 2014
X4 – 2014
M3 sedan – 2014
M4 Coupe – 2014
2 Series coupe and convertible – late 2014
Z4 redesign – 2015
2 Series Touring – 2015
M2 coupe – 2015

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