BMW can't build its $135,000 plug-in hybrid fast enough
Gas may be cheap right now, but even the well-to-do prefer not to burn it. BMW is doubling the production pace of its 357 horsepower i8 plug-in hybrid car -- which runs 23 miles or so on electricity alone -- to around 20 vehicles per day. The automaker is bumping the numbers to meet demand and cut the four-month waiting list in half. As our sister site Autoblog pointed out, that's a mere .04 percent of an F-150's production, but then again the i8 costs around four times as much.
A more apt comparison might be against the Tesla Model S, with sales of 35,000 units last year, compared to 18,000 BMW i3 EVs and i8 plug-in hybrids, combined. At the same time, Chevy sold nearly 19,000 copies of its plug-in hybrid Volt in 2014, while Nissan sold 30,000 Leaf EVs for a combined 7 percent bump over 2013. That shows not only that BMW is holding its own in the clean vehicle market, sales-wise, but that the overall market is growing -- even in a time of $2 per gallon gas.
[Image credit: Autoblog]
