Over the weekend, BMW CFO Freidrich Eichiner spoke with Bloomberg. So far, BMW has received over 8,000 pre-orders for the i3 electric vehicle, and that’s before orders open in North America!
Mr. Eichiner says that BMW expects to sell more than 10,000 copies of the i3 next year, and BMW is preparing to adjust capacity according to demand.
“If demand holds, which is what it’s looking like, we will soon have to invest more.”
BMW has invested over 400 million Euro in the production facility in Liepzig, Germany and was designed with the ability to easily expand production up to as many as 30,000 units per year.
Mr. Eichiner also commented on problems BMW was having bonding carbon-fiber components. The troubles caused a week and a half production halt on the i3, but Eichiner says it was not significant enough to delay the launch of the electric vehicle.
The BMW i3 is set to go on sale in Germany on November 16th with a base price of 34,950 euros. Sales for North America are scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2014, with a base MSRP of $41,350 for the all electric version, and $45,200 for the i3 Rex.
