Electric BMW Will Be Priced Lower Than Electric Opel

Buying a BMW i3 will be cheaper than buying an Opel Ampera-German car manufacturer BMW has interesting plans for the price setting of its new electric vehicle. The popular car maker intends to start offering its electric BMW i3 model, which will be released on the market in 2013 at a very competitive retail price. This was reported by BMW boss Norbert Reithofer.

So it looks as though the BMW i3, is going to be somewhat cheaper than you would expect from this German car maker. It was in an interview with a German magazine (Handelsblatt) that BMW boss Norbert Reithofer reveiled that the car would be available at less than ? 40,000 on the German market.

This would make it considerably cheaper than the Opel Ampera, a competing electric car that can currently be bought for ? 44,500 on the market. Because the BPM does not have to be paid for this electric vehicle in Holland, the price on the Dutch car market will be very similar to the car price in Germany.

At the moment, however, exact price settings for other European car markets haven't been announced. It will also be a while before prices and/or release details for the American market will be released.

How is car manufacturer BMW able to offer its electric vehicle at such a competitive price?

In Europe, the car brand BMW is known as prestigious and luxurious. It does not make a habit out of competing on pricing. Furthermore, the BMW i3 was expected to be a lot more expensive due to the high amounts of carbon fiber that were processed in the electric vehicle. So, how is the car maker able to offer its electric vehicles at a lower price than the Opel Ampera?

Well, the manufacturer decided to set up a new factory for carbon fiber in the American village Moses Lake to produce the i-models of car manufacturer BMW. Until now, carbon fibers were mainly handmade, which revved up prices significantly. These fibers are made in the US, after which they are further processed in Germany. Finally, the materials are transformed into CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) in the BMW factories.

With the help of the factory in America, the production of carbon fiber costs BMW as much as the production of aluminum does. This is why the car manufacturer is able to launch its electric cars at this very competitive price. But we will have to wait for its release to see how BMW customers will react to the vehicle and the lower price setting.