BMW Will Sell Its Electric Cars in U.S.

BMW Will Sell Its Electric Cars in U.S.

BMW said it will be launching sales of its i3 electric city car and i8 plug-in hybrid sports car in North America at the same time the cars go on sale in Europe – the BMW i3 in 2013 and the BMW i8 a year later. The automaker, which previously had said only that the cars would be sold in Germany, first introduced them – in concept form – in Frankfurt last summer. Their North American debuts came last week at the media preview of at the Los Angeles auto show, which is now open to the publicy.

The cars are the first from BMW’s new “i” sub-brand, created to develop and market “sustainable” vehicles. They also will be the first extremely lightweight production cars form BMW to use an aluminum base platform for the suspension, powertrain and electric-drive system components topped by a carbon-fiber reinforced plastic body and passenger compartment. While the i3 will be sold principally as an all-electric vehicle, BMW has said that it will offer a model with an optional range-extending gasoline engine-generator.

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.