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BMW i8

Discussion in 'Electric Vehicles' started by Doug_G, Jul 23, 2013.

  1. steph280

    steph280 Member

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    ok that just gave me second thought about pre-ordering a Tesla Model X...
     
  2. dsm363

    dsm363 Roadster + Sig Model S

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    Only the rear doors would be like that so there would still be some way to get out of the car. The rear gate might also open some.
     
  3. pmadflyer

    pmadflyer Member

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    Model x doors would still open at the roofline. If it were only a single hinge near the center of the roof, it would be a problem, but it's not. Tesla boasts an incredible level of safety with the S. They won't sacrifice that with the X.
     
  4. Doug_G

    Doug_G Lead Moderator

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  5. jbcarioca

    jbcarioca Well-Known Member

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    Reading the automotive press the BMW numbers become much less dramatic. Also thinking about past BMW practice is relevant with the M1 and Z1, both of which cost much more to develop than their gross revenues from the vehicles. In short the i3 and i8 served as public technology demonstrators, not as independent commercial ventures on a stand alone basis. Thinking of only a single issue, economic mass production carbon fiber, much of the billions allocated to those two cars was actually preparing production technology to be used for all the rest of the line. The series-hybrid technology of the i3 needed scale public use to determine how useful it was too, and the i8 has a long list of deployed characteristics and technologies that need real world testing prior to deployment in the rest of the line.

    So, when we look at these as R&D they do make much more sense, don't they?

    BTW, I bought one of those Z1's in France when they were released. BMW spent a good deal of money replacing parts that did not last, but they eventually fixed them all. Those BMW's seem to be equivalent to the Tesla Roadster. Of course Tesla never spends Billions on testing a new concept. Not yet.
     
  6. SwedishAdvocate

    SwedishAdvocate Active Member

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    Didn't know there were any extremely accomplished two-seater or 2+2-seater sport cars for people who aren't extroverts... :wink:
     
  7. EdA

    EdA Model S P-2540

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  8. SwedishAdvocate

    SwedishAdvocate Active Member

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    #728 SwedishAdvocate, Aug 11, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 13, 2016
    That’s interesting on several levels…

    - - - Updated - - -

    Found another review (or whatever):

    NOTE: There's no sound during the 'intro' so mind your ears if you're wearing headphones or some such...

     
  9. dsm363

    dsm363 Roadster + Sig Model S

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    New BMW ad "eDrive technology in the BMW i8 offers exceptionally efficient performance as well as all electric driving with zero tailpipe emissions..." Where is the *?
     
  10. gg_got_a_tesla

    gg_got_a_tesla Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913

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  11. EdA

    EdA Model S P-2540

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  12. hileyms

    hileyms Member

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  13. ecarfan

    ecarfan Well-Known Member

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    For a few years. It's obvious that is the way Elon wants to go, but US DOT regs and many local state regs don't allow for it. So BMW can't do it in the US either.
     
  14. Spidy

    Spidy Active Member

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    #734 Spidy, Jan 9, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 13, 2016
     
  15. Discoducky

    Discoducky Happy owner of a P100D X and a brand new 2021 M3!

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    One of my show stoppers for buying X at this point.
     
  16. andrewket

    andrewket Well-Known Member

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    I'm hopeful that tesla has a wiring harness for cameras behind the side mirrors for a future retrofit.
     
  17. Discoducky

    Discoducky Happy owner of a P100D X and a brand new 2021 M3!

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    Wonder if someone would be willing to verify? :)
     
  18. cwerdna

    cwerdna Active Member

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    Per Monthly Plug-In Sales Scorecard, there was weird huge uptick on BMW i8 US sales w/656 sold/leased vs. most months of 100-200 or so.

    I wonder what happened there? (Side note: One showed up at my work. I know the driver.)

    Did they perhaps end up getting "sold" and then get turned into used cars? The only reason why I mention that is my friend accidentally stumbled across a surprisingly high # of used low mileage i8's listed on autotrader. At the time (recently), he found 168 used i3 but 140 used i8!

    Take a look at http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/Used+Cars/BMW/i8/Los+Angeles+CA-90024?endYear=2017&firstRecord=0&listingType=used&listingTypes=used&makeCode1=BMW&mmt=%5BBMW%5BBMWI8%5B%5D%5D%5B%5D%5D&modelCode1=BMWI8&searchRadius=0&showcaseListingId=415507379&showcaseOwnerId=94837&sortBy=mileageASC&startYear=1981&Log=0. I count about a dozen with under 150 miles on them, including some used ones with between 5 and 18 miles.

    There are also a whole bunch with between 200 and ~3K miles. What happened?
     
  19. Denarius

    Denarius Active Member

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    Its common for rare/exotic cars which have a waiting list to be bought only to resell for a profit. I don't know the specifics, but as I understand it either the car manufacturers have a rule or some law exists that you can't sell it for 1 year. I haven't checked timelines, but I assume that is what is going on here.
     
  20. Electroman

    Electroman Supporting Member

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    I am pretty sure this was supposed to be the Tesla killer. When did it become rare & exotic?
     

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