BMW UK is celebrating the sale of its 10,000th i3 EV which is sold both as a pure electric BEV and with a range extender petrol engine generator.
The automaker claims the i3, launched in 2013, "has evolved to be the best selling compact electric vehicle in the premium segment. With updates to the i3 and the addition of a new, sportier variant in the i3s, success is set to continue".
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SMMT data shows 13,597 pure electrics were sold in the UK last year, up 32.5% year on year. Sales of other types of plug in model rose 25.5% to 33,666 in 2017. However, YTD 2018 pure electric sales to the the end of February were off 34% to 990 units though other types of plug in were up 41% to 3,878. The launch of the new, top selling BEV Nissan Leaf at the start of this year should give pure EVs a boost in 2018, however.
In 2017, BMW Group sold over 100,000 electrified vehicles and claims both i and iPerformance became the best-selling plug-in hybrid (PHEV) brands worldwide.
The i vehicles are now sold in 74 countries and there are 130,000 ChargeNow locations worldwide with over 5,000 in the UK.
