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559 – BMW: Ultimate Driving Machine to Ultimate Green Machine

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25 February 2011

BMW i rangeA graphical interpretation of the new BMW i cars and its environmentally friendly new i sub brand

Editor’s Blog on the new BMW sub brand i

WITH petrol prices hitting an average of 129p per litre for petrol and 134p for diesel, perhaps BMW’s new sub brand for environmentally friendly cars – read super fuel-efficient – can’t come soon enough.

The new BMW brand is called ‘i’. And the first BMW ‘i’ will be the i3, an all-electric city car (it’s previously been known as the Megacity project), and the i8, the production version of the Vision EfficientDynamics Concept unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show – a sporty, environmentally friendly car for longer distances. You can expect to see the i3 in 2013 and the i8 around a year later.

And there will be more to follow, apparently. BMW has trademarked the numbers i1 to i9.

Sales and marketing chief Ian Robertson said that the BMW i joins the performance M brand to set a balance within BMW Group. “M stands for performance and exciting on one hand and i is for visionary cars and sustainability.” A case of embracing BMW’s famous advertising slogan ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’ with the ‘Ultimate Green Machine’ perhaps?

“As we demonstrate with the i3 and i8, the i brand is not just about city cars. It is a range of vehicles that can be small and trendy or sporty and lifestyle,” added Ian Robertson

According to BMW, letter ‘i’ stands for innovation and started with ‘i-drive’ in 2007.

Along with its new i sub brand, BMW is also launching a set of premium mobility services concentrating on four areas: connecting drivers with available parking, smart navigation using real time traffic information, intermodal transport linking in with public transport and car sharing schemes.

BMW i Concept Car
BMW i8 Concept Car

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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