BMW Is Looking For New Sales Channels For Megacity Vehicles

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

BMW will launch its so-called Megacity Vehicle in 2013. However, it is questionable whether it will go into traditional sales. In addition to pure leasing, a pure car sharing model is also conceivable as a sales channel.

BMW may only want to offer its lightweight electric car "Megacity Vehicle", which is expected for 2013, for short-term leasing and not for sale. The head of sales at the Munich-based company, Ian Robertson, has now made corresponding hints to the online portal "Automotive News". "We are currently looking for alternatives to the classic sales channels," says Robertson. "Making the car widely available should have priority over sales." The car-sharing project "car2go" operated by Daimler in Ulm could serve as a model for the sales model for the carbon fiber vehicle.

High battery and material costs

The reason for the advance could be the high battery and material costs. They could drive the sales price for the carbon fiber electric car to unprofitable heights and thus stand in the way of refinancing the development costs.

The highlight of the four-door, around four-meter-long, high-volume electric vehicle built in Leipzig: the electric four-seater should, unlike usual, use a double vehicle architecture. A high-strength passenger cell made of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) is to be placed over an aluminum frame, which houses lithium-ion batteries, gearboxes and an electric motor. This material weighs 30 percent less than aluminum, is 50 percent lighter than steel, but also significantly more expensive.

This unconventional design is intended to compensate for the weight disadvantage of conventional electric cars, which, due to the heavy batteries, weigh around 200 kilos more, which narrows their range. (mid)