Car manufacturer BMW is ready to spread the wings by launching a sub-brand called BMW i. This car is BMW's new segment created specifically for the advent of electric cars in the future.
"This is a new day for our industry. A new era is for individual mobility. It is i. Birth BMW electric era," said a member of management of BMW AG's sales and marketing, Ian Robertson in Munich as quoted from BMW's official website on Tuesday ( 22/02/2011).
For the first step of the German manufacturer will launch two most sophisticated types of this new sub-brand in mid 2013, namely BMW BMW i3 and i8.
Certainly in the future, it will be born by the other models under the new sub-brand. BMW says it has very serious even, funds amounting to U.S. $ 100 million they were prepared to develop the BMW i later.
"BMW is a car and i have a vision of service, inspiring design and offers a new concept in premium class," said Robertson.
"With the BMW i launched, we build success and strength of our brand," he added.
i3 owned by BMW previously known as the Megacity which it will become the first city-owned BMW vehicles using pure electricity as their driving force.
Megacity will use a powertrain similar to BMW's Active E 2011. So that these vehicles will be equipped with lithium-ion battery which it can deliver power to an electric motor producing 170 hp (127 kW / 172 PS) and 184 lb-ft (249 Nm) of torque.
Unfortunately specification of Megacity is not yet known in detail. But if we compare to BMW Active E, this vehicle can reach 0-100 km per hour in less than 9 seconds, and it has a top speed of about 145 km per hour, and sped up to 161 km when the battery is full.
While developed BMW I8 based on the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept car will use a hybrid system which it makes high-performance but with low fuel consumption.
Both models will be based on a new construction called the LifeDrive. This new construction will use the aluminum chassis with carbon fiber-reinforced packing plastic (CFRP) on the body which it makes the car lighter without sacrificing strength of the material.
Both these cars will be built at BMW factory in Leipzig, Germany which it has enhanced its ability to spray about 400 million Euro fund.
To start a new sub-brand BMW will be born in New York, the United States after the BMW i will begin to colonize other areas around the world.
