BMW has opened its first electric vehicles showroom at its flagship Park Lane dealership in central London. The automaker said sales of its ‘i’ products – about 18 months away – would be handled through multiple channels in some markets, supplementing the traditional dealer with a mobile sales team, a customer centre and the internet.

“All the new platforms will be fully interlinked, enabling customers to tailor their chosen contact channel to their needs and/or switch between channels at any time during the purchasing process, should they so desire,” the automaker said.

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Mobile ‘sales advisors’ will arranges test drives at dealerships and will be on hand to present the car and assist with the test drive. All sales channels will be able to arrange all payment or lease options.

BMW said adopting the multi-channel model would give dealers additional help prioritising time spent with customers.

Dealers handling i models will initially be limited to large cities – the estimate is over 10% of European BMW dealers from the launch of the sub-brand in 2013. Demand will dictate subsequent network expansion.

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Dealers not selling the EVs will still get service work as BMW said standard servicing can largely be carried out within the existing network with carbon-fibre bodywork and servicing of the high-voltage battery under warranty taking place only through the i dealers.

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The retail channels will also offer special home charging equipment and services such as a booking system for parking and recharge slots in public car parks.