Autoblog's Damon Lavrinc has confirmed what many had figured out from the i3 spy videos, that the 2013 i3 will be rear wheel drive and "mid-engine". The BMW i3 is BMWs first forray into a mass production electric vehicle, mainly geared towards large cities, as its original name implies (Mega City Vehicle). Thats not to say its the first EV from BMW, as they have already been learning alot from the MINIe and BMW 1-Series ActiveE, this car simply represents the next step-- smaller packaging and larger industries of scale.
The BMW i3 itself is the
world's first volume production car made of lightweight carbon fiber and is to be built in Leipzig. BMW expects to have the cars produced in "Significant volumes" by 2013, targeting 30,000 annual sales at the get-go.
[Source:
Autoblog]