Interested but est price high

I would be interested in the new i3 and have said to my dealer i may be tempted but from what I have read BMW look to be pricing too high. I have driven the active E and it was very smooth so I am sure BMW will deliver with good technology. Electric cars are struggling to find a market in the UK and Nissan seem to be dropping their price. Happy to pay a premium for usual BMW quality but a list of £35k in the UK is too much. Maybe leasing costs will be good.

Maybe the first 1000 cars in each market should have a really attractive price so that they build a bit of a base.

The other bit that may disappoint is that the final body styling may miss out on some of the great concept ideas?? Only have till end of July to find out.

Here in the US the Volt list price just dropped by $4,000-$5,000. The Leaf price dropped by about $6,000 in February. So with the Volt at about $35.5k and the Leaf at $29k, can BMW really get away with a $48k REx and $44k EV? I'm not sure I would want to own any EV right now because of residual values but if the leasing math works for you perhaps a 3-year rental would be the best bet and upon lease expiration you will have many more options available (200-mile range Tesla BlueStar for example).

Northwestern said:

Here in the US the Volt list price just dropped by $4,000-$5,000. The Leaf price dropped by about $6,000 in February. So with the Volt at about $35.5k and the Leaf at $29k, can BMW really get away with a $48k REx and $44k EV? I'm not sure I would want to own any EV right now because of residual values but if the leasing math works for you perhaps a 3-year rental would be the best bet and upon lease expiration you will have many more options available (200-mile range Tesla BlueStar for example).

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I'm generally not a leasing-type of person but I think with the EV industry where it is today (just beginning) it's probably a good decision. It's really not known what the market for a used 3 or 4 year old i3 will be so leasing takes that concern away. Plus, as you said there will be other good choices in a few years to consider.

As for pricing, BMW isn't really concerned with Volt or LEAF pricing as they don't look at either of these cars legitimate competition. A fair comparison would be to look at their 3-Series. It's much more expensive than other sedans in its class from GM and Nissan but it sells very well. BMW is a premium manufacturer with an emphasis on both luxury and the driving experience. The i3 will outperform both of these cars, has a much nicer interior with next-generation electronics not found in the others and it's the first production car made entirely from CFRP and aluminum. There really isn't anything to fairly compare to it in the market now so it's hard to say it's overpriced or underpriced(plus we don't really even know how much it will cost!) We'll have to wait to see how well it's received and how many they sell to answer this for us.