Production of the BMW i3 and i8 might have ended years ago, but the original “i” cars are still showing up in sales charts. The most recent one covers the January-June 2024 period during which 24 units were sold. The German luxury brand doesn’t provide a breakdown of sales, deciding instead to bundle the two. Deliveries dropped by 95.8% compared to the first half of 2023 when a surprising number of 575 vehicles were sold.
As previously reported, BMW sold 18 units of the i3 and i8 in the first quarter of 2024, which tells us another six were purchased in Q2. We’ll remind you the diminutive hatchback went out of production in mid-2022. It had a nine-year run during which a quarter of a million cars were assembled. The i8 is even older since the coupe/roadster plug-in hybrid sports car was retired in mid-2020. Only 20,465 cars were ever made, most of which were coupes: 16,581 vs 3,884.
It would be interesting to find out details about these cars and their owners. We can only assume these previously unsold i3s and i8s had been collecting dust on dealers’ lots. Perhaps some substantial discounts were applied to clear out the old stock. Since i8 production ended four years ago and the last i3 was built two years ago, surely there can’t be many unsold cars left?
The i3/i8 pair technically represents the slowest-selling BMW models through the first six months of the year. Once we exclude discontinued products, that title goes to the XM with 3,807 units. The Z4 roadster was near the bottom of the sales chart, with 5,489 examples.
It’s worth noting BMW does still sell an i3, but it’s a different car. We’re talking about a fully electric 3 Series based on the long-wheelbase sedan built in China. It rides on the CLAR platform and is likely to be superseded by the Neue Klasse-based sedan arriving in 2026. The next-gen EV is going to be assembled in Munich, but China is likely to build its own version.
Source: BMW
