[afadeev]

If you were wondering what BMW insiders thought of BMW's commitment to EVs and i5, this will provide part of the answer - BMW Loses Core Development Team of Its i3 and i8 Electric Vehicle Line. Key executives defect to Future Mobility Corp, a Chinese startup backed by Tencent Holdings.

"[...]After launching with much fanfare in 2013, the i3 has changed little and there are few plans for further development of the brand. The i3 will get a new battery extending its range and a open-top derivative of the i8 is also planned. But a long-awaited third model in the i-series won’t be launched before 2020, Chief Executive Harald Krüger said recently.
“That’s too long for young people who want to change the world,” a person close to the company said."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/bmw-lose...ine-1461086049

[-c-]

Ha! I wonder if they where scouted! Happens all the time in the auto world. We sometimes get called from other companies wanting to make offers to individuals, basically steal talent from the company.

I wouldn't be surprised if those individuals where not happy with the slow roll out and took a better deal. Especially if they where followed with their guys.

We had a director from our electrical group get scouted by tesla and he defected and took a few guys with him same with Panasonic as well so it happens!

I also heard how the model 3 has shaken up the expectations of the industry and now it's causing lots of companies especially the Germans to rethink their position not only on electric demand and popularity but also their normal everyday cars.

It's going to be real interesting years coming.
China's grabbing some of the best of the best to make future teck so it will be interesting to see how they plan to use it. Considering they have the biggest cash of lithium for batteries they have been known to control the amount and can have an effect on supply.
I just don't trust them. We had a joint agreement with JAC and they came in the studio and we caught them taking photos of many concepts, trying to be Discrete. Well they were promptly removed. We lost a few very good surface modelers to faraday, I'm curious how the Chinese electric car will evolve given all the talent they are taking from the states and Germany.

It's also possible the "I" group just want new challenges now that the platform has been developed and the future plans have possibly already been penned out but not wanting to sit idle.

Sometimes theirs a lot that goes on behind closed doors so all we can do is speculate what their plans are. But I hope the T3 woke them up and only better options get in the pipe line.

It's possible after the successful showing of the 3 made them pull the plug on their current direction and regroup

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by -c-

Ha! I wonder if they where scouted! Happens all the time in the auto world. We sometimes get called from other companies wanting to make offers to individuals, basically steal talent from the company.
I wouldn't be surprised if those individuals where not happy with the slow roll out and took a better deal. Especially if they where followed with their guys.

Exactly!
I'm not surprised that people were head-hunted. I am surprised that so many key people bailed. If the thing that they were working on (i5, i3/8 evolution) was cool, prioritized, and fully funded, there would not have been a wholesale leadership erosion.
Some people come and go all the time, but for the entire leadership team who had delivered cool products (i8, may be not i3 as much) to be demotivated enough to resign in mass - that speaks volumes about the desperation and frustration with their projects priority within BMW.

Originally Posted by -c-

I also heard how the model 3 has shaken up the expectations of the industry and now it's causing lots of companies especially the Germans to rethink their position not only on electric demand and popularity but also their normal everyday cars.

Yep.
The question is - how will they respond!?

It seams like BMW's response, at least, was not what the i3/5/8 engineering team had craved...

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