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.