It’s too bad that BMW will not develop a successor to its i3. The electric hatchback showed promise as a city car that is relatively lightweight, roomy and fun to drive.
Done right, the i3 could have been a breakthrough design that harkened back to BMW’s pioneering 2002. Picture a Swiss army knife of simple but elegant functionality.
Also see ‘BMW’s 7 Series ‘Bangle butt’ helped legitimize weird styling’
The i3 lived up to that ideal with its engineering. For example, the body is made from carbon fiber and the door panels from hemp (Wikipedia, 2020). A 62-inch height and clamshell rear doors make for exceptionally easy entry into the back seat for such a small car.
With all this going for it, the i3 didn’t need to try to be cute. Like the original Volkswagen Beetle, it would have been in its own purposeful way.
Quirky styling gets in the way of functionality
Instead, BMW created a Bavarian rendition of the AMC Gremlin. The i3’s designers look like they tried very hard to make the car stand out. It does, but the i3’s quirkiness can also get in the way of its city car functionality. That, in turn, arguably reduces the whole rationale for the i3.
The front end looks okay, albeit busy. BMW has found a way to transform its kidney grille into a memorable look for an electric car.
The lower part of the fascia looks frumpy and cheap. Particularly problematic are the road lights, which are placed too close to bumper level and surrounded by cheesy black plastic.
The i3’s clamshell rear doors offer admirably large windows — but then they radically shrink at the C-pillar. It looks awkward and significantly reduces visibility. Why would you do that to a city car, where maximum visibility could be a real advantage in zipping around with greater ease than in a larger car?
The rear window is taller but could stretch a little lower down on the hatchback for more better visibility. BMW designers seem more interested in trying to make a fashion statement by painting the hatchback door black, which presents a striking contrast with the silver on the rest of this i3. This looks interesting but hardly helps the rear of this tiny car stand out in traffic.
Pop quiz: Would you rather look stylish or not get run over by a big truck on the freeway?
To compensate for the i3’s invisible butt, BMW might consider installing a flag mount somewhere on the car’s amazingly beefy rear bumper. Let that American flag warn one and all, DON’T TREAD ON ME! That would be cute.
The i3’s ‘toy car’ look may have been intentional
In general, the i3 looks like a toy car that does not display a whole lot of traditional BMW gravitas. That may have been intentional. Automotive News (2019) reported that the purpose of the i3 was to “test customers’ response to EVs without compromising sales of the automaker’s sedans.”
Well, they certainly succeeded. The i3 sold under 42,000 units in the United States from 2014 to 2019. That represented less than 1 percent of BMW’s overall sales, which reached 1.94 million during that same time period (carsalesbase, 2020).
It makes some sense that the automaker’s next round of EVs will look like more traditional BMWs and Minis. However, the i3 was a missed opportunity for BMW to return to its roots of building a Swiss Army knife on wheels.
I imagine that Chris Bangle would like the i3’s weird juxtaposition of angles and colors. Then again, if he were in charge of the universe I would seek a transfer. Send me to a land where designers still treasure simple, elegant design that actually helps people live their lives better. A land where dumb design isn’t heralded as cute.
NOTES:
This is an expanded version of a story originally posted January 1, 2016.
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RE:SOURCES
- Automotive News; 2019. “Report: No BMW i3 successor.” Posted September 23; accessed November 26, 2020.
- Carsalesbase; 2020. “BMW U.S. sales”; “BMW i3 U.S. sales.” Accessed November 26, 2020.
- Wikipedia; 2020. “BMW i3.” Page last edited November 22; accessed November 26.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
- Author’s photo gallery: “BMW bangles its brand”
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