Industry sources, including Bloomberg, report that BMW i3 owners will take advantage of BMW X5 vehicles when needed for longer trips.
As we reported in the past, to deal with range anxiety, BMW will offer loaners to BMW i3 customers.
Bloomberg says that full-sized X5 SUV will be offered for several weeks a year for family trips or as a backup. The feature is an option for the BMW i3 purchase but no pricing was set at the moment.
The offer seems to be market specific and BMW USA has nothing to announce at the moment.
“We know from our experience that the range of the i3 will satisfy the vast majority of daily driving needs but there will be occasions when it will not do what someone needs a car to do, a BMW USA spokesperson told BMWBLOG. “We don’t want those rare occasions to be a barrier to purchase so we will provide i3 owners access to a conventional BMW when they need it. It won’t necessarily be an X5, although it could be. Specifics of the program are still being finalized and will be in place well before the first cars arrive stateside.”
In other efforts to ease the range anxiety, BMW will also offer an optional combustion engine, REx which has a range of 60 to 90 miles on a single charge. The two-cylinder engine comes from the Motorrad Division and will extended the driving range to 250 miles on a tank of gasoline.
BMW will also offer house calls for recharging cars.
The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (without Destination & Handling) in the US will be $41,350, before any federal or state incentives. The Destination & Handling fee in the US is currently $925.
BMW Group also announced the base price of 34,950 Euros for the BMW i3 in Germany. The BMW i3 will be available to customers in Germany in November 2013.
