BMW Will Make A Second Gen i3 No Matter What

2017 BMW i3 (Credit: BMW)

If you think slow sales mean the death of the i3, BMW is determined to make a second generation of the car, even if you don’t want it. During an interview with Automotive News, i3 project manager Heinrich Schwackhoefer said the EV will see a second generation.

Schwackhoefer said his employer doesn’t view the i3 as a failure, even though only 60,000 have been sold since the vehicle was launched in 2013. Maybe BMW is looking at the i3 as something to be improved upon, perhaps a future competitor to the Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3? BMW has been hinting it wants to get serious about electric models, so taking one away wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

We have no idea when a second-gen BMW i3 would debut. Schwackhoefer played dumb when asked, but maybe the reason he’s so confident is he’s involved in creating the follow-up right now. More than likely, we won’t see something until after 2020, but there’s always an outside chance of a surprise. Here’s to hoping it has a range of 300 miles and looks like a regular car.