Launched in 2013, the BMW i3 should have ushered in the era of electrification—not only for the German automaker, but for much of the world. No, BMW wasn’t going to single handedly convince us to get rid of our petrol-powered cars, but between the affordable, city-practical i3 and eye-turning i8, they could have been a segment leader. From Tim De Chant:
But no matter how you feel about the i3, it was a car made by a company with a clear vision of the future, pursued with tenacity and purpose. BMW pitched the i3 as the foundation of an entirely new line, and BMW could have seriously iterated on the design. There was talk in the early days of how easy it would be to simply drop a new carbon-fiber reinforced plastic body onto the brilliantly engineered aluminum chassis, creating a suite of models that would explore a wide range of electrified mobility.
Now, nearly a decade later with only 200,000 units sold, BMW is ‘rebooting’ its electric car ambitions with the i4 (and that beefy M50 variant pictured above) and iX. For the purposes of keeping this article lean, I won’t get into specifics of the i3, nor what the new BMW electric cars are all about (Tim’s piece does a good job of that). Needless to say, while I’m excited for their new fleet of cars, I find history to be repeating itself with BMW neglecting to leverage arguably one of its most important assets: their global dealership network.
Among the many things Tesla has going for them, what sets them apart from the pack is visibility, not only through their many retail stores in malls and other popular destinations but also the visibility of their charging network. The latter works as a beacon for owners, a sign of relief that the charge they crave is within view, but it, too, like their stores, acts as an advertisement—Tesla means electric and here are their stations where you too could be charging.
Unlike the 100-year-old German automaker, Tesla is still busy establishing its retail efforts, dealerships, and service centers on top of building out its charging network. BMW, on the other hand, which already sells hundreds of thousands of cars a year and therefore attracts immense foot traffic, already has their logistics solved and could get a fairly substantial charging infrastructure up “overnight” by mandating each dealership to provide publicly accessible chargers.
Instead, most BMW dealerships don’t have a dedicated space to showcase their electric cars, which are often mixed in the sea of petrol cars. But perhaps even worse, I’ve yet to come across a single BMW dealership in LA that provides a public-facing charging station.
Imagine rolling off the lot in your brand-new i3 or iX and knowing that every single BMW (and Mini) dealership offered a reliable fast-charging station. And, since BMW, unlike Tesla, uses an open-standard charger, dealerships with charging stations would act as a destination spot for non-BMW owners, too.
Think it’s crazy to let an electric Mercedes or Ford charge at a BMW dealership? Think again. This not only acts as free advertising for BMW and their electric efforts, but it also opens up all types of opportunities to get competitors to give the latest BMW a try, even non-electric models!
Suddenly, through an existing network, BMW is very publicly showcasing and marketing their electric fleet while also enticing other electric car owners to give their cars a try, while also addressing one of the biggest hurdles the electric car industry faces: range anxiety.
Even with the affordable i3, let alone the upcoming i4 and iX, BMW’s electric efforts always felt ambitious and premium, especially when compared to Tesla’s; or as Eric Tingwall writes about the new Ford Mustang Mach E:
At long last, an automaker has given us an EV that competes head to head with Tesla on design, performance, price, and range, and it neither looks nor feels like it was built in a tent.
Despite billions of dollars poured into their efforts and a head start compared to their European counterparts, BMW’s electric car ambitions haven’t translated into success for the Bavarian giant. Though leveraging their global dealership network won’t be a cure all that miraculously changes the trajectory of their electric future, if deployed effectively and creatively, it allows the company to make great strides and become a dominant player in the electric market in a short time.