[Louv]

Originally Posted by Barago

You honestly dont believe bmw can make a car to compete with and potentially outperform/outsell the tesla? You're in a dream world...VW, BMW and other giants are coming for Elon soon. I hope the T brand survives- but we shall see.

I do believe that BMW can. I certainly hope they can. I'm addicted to the brand, and I'd much rather drive a BMW-designed competitor to the Model 3. I like Tesla's exterior design, but I dislike their interiors. I especially dislike the "everything is controlled through a single flat-panel". It may be flexible, and upgradable, but it is distracting to operate... (eventually that won't be a problem, when we reach Level 5)

Of course, that assumes that BMW goes down a path of styling that is more akin to their current ICE cars, and not the i3 (I'm not a fan of the design). A full electric with the design language of the i8 would be excellent, however. But maybe best would be a 6 series Gran Coupe... with a 100kWh battery pack, and 400-ish HP. (wipes drool from corner of mouth)

In 2014, as a member of the press, I sat with the BMW Product Manager of Electric Cars (then, only the i3 and i8 had been announced) and we discussed Tesla. He dismissed Tesla as "going down the wrong path", and said that "Hybrids were the right way to go". Every time I recall that conversation I laugh. The world has now woken up and is chasing Tesla's full electric vehicles.

But Tesla isn't staying ahead merely because they make an electric with reasonable range. They are also kicking ass due to their foresight that a Fast Charging network is necessary, and that Fully Autonomous cars are the future. They have a head start in both those areas.

Yes, BMW has announced that they will have Level 4 Autonomous vehicles in August of 2021. Will they make that date? It is still unclear, to me anyway. BMW hasn't even hired their full engineering team to do that development yet. (source: a different, on-the-record conversation I had at the BMW Tech Center in Mountain View, California)