My New Side Job: BMW i Dealer Training

It's -2 degrees F here in Canada and I'm talking BMW i3 at Budd's BMW in Oakville!

I've written a few posts on my blogs about how poorly many dealerships have done when it comes to selling their electric car offerings. I blasted Nissan and GM pretty good a while back and had hoped that BMW would learn from the mistakes the other OEM's made when they rolled their EV's into their dealers' showrooms. However I'm starting to wonder if that will be the case.

Electric cars are different in so many ways. If the sales team isn't prepared for the onslaught of questions that they are going to get hit with as soon as the i3 becomes available to order, then it will not only hurt sales of the i3 but it will certainly tarnish the BMW brand image. BMW dealers will have an even tougher time than the other brands had in my opinion because the i3 isn't just an electric car, it really is a revolutionary vehicle. Besides the typical EV questions about the car's anticipated range, battery life, battery management, the effects of weather on the battery, charging, etc, they also have to explain the unique architecture with the carbon fiber and aluminum construction and the thermoplastic skin. How will it respond in an accident? How expensive will it be to repair? Why are the tires so skinny and will they perform well? And that's before they even begin asking about the range extender. Can it drive up a long hill at highway speeds? Can I simply refill it with gas and keep going? Why can't it be turned on manually? Does the waste heat from the engine warm the cabin? What is the maintenance schedule? And so on...

I've been working with JMK BMW in Springfield to help get them ready for the i3 also.

When I first heard about the new "Genius Everywhere" program that BMW was launching I really thought they had solved the dealer problem. It sounded brilliant and I figured these "Geniuses" would be thoroughly trained about the i3 and be able to assist a BMW client adviser with any issue or question about the i3 that a potential customer would have. However once I learned a little more about the program I started to wonder. The Geniuses are there to assist not only with BMW i questions, but technical questions on all BMW products.  Yikes I thought, that's a lot of information for them to absorb. Yes, they will have fancy iPads in hand to help them pull up info that they don't know off the top of their head but still, BMW has a lot of vehicles in their lineup now, and even a "Genius" has their limit. Then came the real concerning revelation. I started getting emails and private messages from BMW "Geniuses". They reached me though this blog and the BMW i3 forums on the internet where I post regularly and answer questions about the i3. After completing Genius training they felt they didn't know enough about the i3 to be comfortable, so they were reaching out to me to help answer questions they had. The worrisome part, is the questions they have are basic, generic electric vehicle questions. If they weren't taught this stuff then they will likely be no help at all to the dealers. In fact one person said this when describing how he feels about going to his designated dealership if someone asks him anything about the i3: "I feel like I'm being blind folded while walking into a room!" This isn't good to hear and believe me it gives me no pleasure at all to have to report it.

In addition to the Geniuses asking me for help, I have recently been getting emails from BMW dealerships asking me questions about the i3. They say BMW has promised them support for the i brand, but they haven't gotten it yet and people are now starting to call and come in to ask for i3 and i8 information and they don't have anything. I have even been asked to come to a couple of dealerships to help train the staff. One dealer in particular, Budds' BMW in Oakville, Canada really wanted me to come and give them a crash course in the i3. They flew me to Toronto and paid me to spend the whole day there and instruct three training sessions. I didn't do it for the money. I really just wanted to help them out since they clearly want to establish themselves as the area's premier BMW i dealer. They were willing to go the extra mile to fly me out there and pay me to help train them and I respect that so I went. The day went really well, and I'm sure they learned a lot about the i3. The following day I got emails from both the dealership manager and the owner and they both thanked me and were so pleased with how the training went they indicated that they would like me to come back to help them more once they get closer to the i3 launch. I have to say they were all really great people up there and I will certainly continue to help them if they ask.

It's not too late to get everybody up to speed, but the clock is ticking. The i brand launches in a couple of months and there is a LOT of ground to cover. I'll continue to help out when I can and in fact I have another dealership training set up for next week. I won't mention which dealer because I didn't ask them if I could talk about it.  Budds' was fine with me talking about this, and they really should be in my opinion. I commend them for wanting to be prepared. They are obviously a forward-thinking, progressive dealership that wants to have a competitive advantage and I really respect that. The next few months should be very interesting. I guess I'll know how well BMW is doing in preparing their dealer network for the i3 by how many phone calls for help that I get! I really hope they do it well. BMW put so much into the development of the i3 and i8, it would be a shame to have them do poorly because they didn't help their dealers get prepared for these unique and ground-breaking, cars.

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Serial Production of The i3 Begins Tomorrow

According to Automobilwoche a German car website, serial production of the BMW i3 will begin tomorrow, September 18th at BMW's Leipzig manufacturing plant. You can read (if you read German) or translate the article here.

The i3 is scheduled to go on sale in select European countries in November with the US launch set for Spring 2014. However, it's not clear if the range extender will be available as an option from the start. I have had people in Germany and the UK tell me when they placed their order the BMW i representative told them the range extender option will not be available until after the new year meaning they will have to wait a few more months if they want the REx. I have not heard any official confirmation of this, but I have no reason to doubt those that told me this. I have been told that the range extender will be available right from the start in the US though, and since we have to wait 4 or 5 months longer than Europe for the launch, that seems legitimate. 

The floor of the i3 assembly plant.

Carbon fiber i3 passenger cells are carried down the production line in Leipzig

 

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BMW i3 Teaser Video Released

BMW Press released a teaser video of the production i3. We get to see the real production i3 in action for the first time. Enjoy!

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What's The Delay?

On July 22nd, tucked nicely at the end of a press release for the i3, were the words,“It will arrive in US showrooms in the second quarter of 2014.”

That means US i3 customers will have to wait a bit longer than expected. Although BMW has never made an official announcement on when US sales would begin, about four months ago BMW's North American president Ludwig Willisch told the Automotive News that the first batch of i3s arriving in the US would have the range extender option and would arrive in the US late this year, but that significant numbers of them wouldn't be delivered until early 2014.

So somehow late 2013 to early 2014 has been moved to 2nd quarter of 2014. It's only a delay of a few months but it has people wondering what was the cause of the delay. To add to the mystery is the fact that the European launch seems to remain on schedule and is still set for November of this year.

There are a couple possible reasons that I can imagine:

1) BMW is having some last minute manufacturing issues so they will need longer than expected to ramp up to the volume they'll need for the US launch. Everything about the production process for the i3 is different than a conventional car so it wouldn't be surprising to find that they are discovering some manufacturing snafus that will need a little extra time to iron out. This happens with conventional cars so one would imagine BMW will certainly experience issues refining the assembly line for the i3.

2) The range extender isn't ready. BMW expects that as much as 80% of the US i3 orders will have the range extender option. What if it's not ready yet, and will take a few months longer? It's conceivable that they begin sales in Europe without the range extender option available and add it a few months later, right before the car launches in the US. A long shot, but possible. If the range extender is available for order at the European launch then this theory is proven wrong.

3) BMW has experienced a higher than expected interest in reservations in Europe, and won't be able to have an adequate supply for the European launch and still begin US deliveries only two months later. Perhaps they will need a couple of months to get the Leipzig plant up to full capacity and satisfy the initial European demand.

4) There really is no delay. Since BMW really never announced an official release date and the only reference ever made was from the Automotive News story where they interviewed Willisch. If you read the article (link above) you see the part where they talk about when the cars will start arriving in the US they aren't quoting Willisch, so it is possible they just used bad information and Willisch actually didn't tell them the car would launch then. Perhaps Willisch was referring to when i3s with range extenders would arrive in the US to be used for training and marketing purposes and the plan all along was to start selling them a couple of months later.

If I had to put money on it, I'd probably go with dealing with manufacturing issues combined with heavier than planned demand in Europe. Perhaps we'll get some clarity on this at the i3 formal introduction on Monday.

I'll have the press conference streaming live here on this site, so tune in at 8:00am this Monday, July 29th.

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Report: i3 Price To Be Announced on July 22nd

According to the French website, La Tribune, BMW will announce the retail price of the i3 on Monday, July 22nd, one week before the official introduction of the production i3. From the report(translated by Google):

"The urban electric BMW i3 will be launched in late November while the i8 plug-in hybrid will be launched it in the spring of 2014. But it is already possible to pre-book these unreleased vehicles. Access to bookings made via this link. Once the form is submitted, a priority on the production line is provided to the user. The customer who pre-booked their vehicle will then finalize its configuration agent "BMW i".
Trendy, BMW! The price of this new new range of "green" vehicles should be released on July 22, just before the presentation of the i3 29 simultaneously in London, New York and China, during a global event extravaganza. Pre-production of the i3 started in February-March. Series production begins in September."

i3 designer Benoit Jacob sits in an i3

There's no way confirm the validity of this report as BMW isn't talking, but the other information in the story is correct, giving reason to believe they have this right also. This is the first report that I've come across that has offered to give the date BMW will release the price. 

I've fluctuated on what I expect BMW to charge a bit the past couple years but I've always been around the $40,000 to $45,000 range. With the imminent release of the actual price upon us I'm pretty confident we'll see a base MSRP of about $41,000 and $43,000(before incentives) and if my feet were put to the fire I'd say $41,995. It looks like we'll know soon enough. What price do you expect?

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The i3 Cometh

 

It's official. The world premier of the production version of the BMW i3 will take place on July 29th. It's a little surprising since most people have speculated that would happen at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September but evidently BMW had different plans.

BMW posted a short video on YouTube that was primarily smiling people jumping for joy and urging us to learn the German word "Vorfreude", which basically means excited anticipation. Even though it wasn't really for my taste, it pretty much summed up how a lot of people feel about it. It's been over three years since BMW first announced the i3 as the "Megacity Car" and there has been a LOT of speculation and intrigue about the i3. This blog alone has had 45,000 pageviews and it's not a commercial site and I don't advertise or promote it, people just find it searching for i3 news. 

I think most people following the i3 have a pretty good idea how it will look already as there have been many spy photos and the recent ones have hardly had any camouflage. However it will still be great to see the final product polished up and on display. I don't know if we'll get any technical specifications at the premier, but with Frankfurt only two months away now, it won't be long before all the details are announced. Exciting times indeed!

The production i3 will be VERY similar to the i3 concept coupe. Just add the rear coach doors and make a few subtle changes and this is it!

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BMW Slowly Undressing the i3

The most recent spy shots of the BMW i3 show more of the car than ever before, continuing the trend BMW has set of slowly exposing more and more of the car as we approach its official unveiling at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

A production-looking nose is spotted

When the very first spy shots were captured two years ago, the car looked very boxy and was completely covered in the blue and white swirly camouflage. It was also clear that BMW had even added fake panels under the "camo" to further obfuscate the real look. As time progressed the fake body panels were slowly dropped and now we are seeing what looks to be pre-production i3's during testing with parts of the body exposed as some of the camouflage has been removed. There was even one picture of what looks like the nose of a full production version i3 which was taken during a photo shoot in California recently.

BMW is still holding back on releasing much information on the car but we have learned a few things recently:

1) BMW will offer gas loaners for customers who need to drive further than their i3 will conveniently take them. The full details haven't been released like how many times per year you are offered the loaner or if there is any fee, time or mileage restriction. Can you take the loaner for a two week vacation on a 1,000 mile trip? Answers to these important questions are still unknown.

2) The optional range extender will not operate like Chevy Volt, allowing the driver to continue driving for hundreds of miles after the battery is exhausted without any noticeable difference. The details are still very unclear, but BMW had said the i3 will have reduced performance when in range extender mode. While BMW is quick to say the car will not be in any kind of "limp home" mode while utilizing the REx, it is not meant to extend your range on a daily basis. In fact Herbert Diess BMW’s global R&D chief was quoted saying “The range extender is not intended for daily use. It’s for situations when the driver needs to extend the range of the vehicle to reach the next charging station,” said Diess. “Therefore, the i3 probably won’t be the choice for customers with a need for an extended range.”

3) The i3 will first go on sale in Europe (November 16th has been rumored to be the launch date) and come to the US in late December. The first batch of i3's that do make it to the US will have the range extender option, as BMW expects the majority of the initial sales to have the option included. Although some i3's will arrive in late December, the speculation is that the official US launch will occur in early January when the car becomes widely available. 

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