Quote:
Originally Posted by mkoesel
Well, in a way they were early, right? The i3 was released years ago. But they blew it by going with an expensive CFRP based architecture that, while cool and futuristic, cannot be used as the basis for a family of lower-cost EVs.
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Yup, the i3 was ahead of it's time as a platform, but the battery is only now barely catching up, and is still behind. Unfortunately, it's polarizing styling is getting long in the tooth, had they released this car today with a 200 mile range and a more traditional, but still distinctive styling, even at $55k, I think it would do very well simply because of the badge. The CFRP architecture didn't just make the i3 too expensive, however, I think a lot was gained in developing it. I wouldn't be surprised if the next gen i8, if there is one, will truely be a supercar with this lightweight architecture. Who knows?