New York — BMW AG will lease 1,100 of its next-generation electric vehicle — the ActiveE — this fall and use its first four-cylinder engine in more than a decade in a U.S. model, the German automaker said today.
BMW said it will lease about 700 of the ActiveE in the United States in six markets: the New York metropolitan area, Boston, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles.
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The company made the announcements at a Manhattan BMW dealership ahead of this week's New York International Auto Show.
BMW North American Chairman and CEO Jim O'Donnell told reporters that he's "far more optimistic" about diesel vehicles boosting U.S. market share than EVs — and he said the U.S. government should end the $7,500 tax credit for EVs.
"I believe in a free economy. I think we should abolish all tax credits," O'Donnell said, saying it was his personal opinion. "What they are doing is putting a bet on technology, which is not appropriate. As a taxpayer I am not sure this is right way to go."
O'Donnell said BMW will accept tax credits for EVs, but he wants a "level playing field" between different technologies, likes clean diesels, which he said are "slightly disadvantaged" by tax policy.
BMW spokesman Tom Kowaleski clarified that the company supports some incentives.
"BMW works closely in partnership with governments and markets around the world to stimulate the development of advanced technologies leading to a more sustainable future of mobility.Often times, this stimulation will take the form of incentives to encourage consumers to adapt these new technologies, a broad range of which we are actively developing," he said.
O'Donnell also said Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn's prediction of 10 percent of all vehicles by EVs by 2020 was too optimistic.
"From a practicality point of view (EVs), won't work for most people," O'Donnell said. "For at least 90 percent and maybe more of the population, (an EV) won't work (at the current battery range)."
BMW also disclosed it will use the four-cylinder engine in the Z4 sDrive28i Roadster. The new turbo engine will offer power similar to a six-cylinder engine used in the Z4 Roadster. O'Donnell said he expects the new engine will also be added to more vehicles later this year but he declined to elaborate.
BMW is moving ahead with its electric vehicle and will unveil two new EVs in 2013.
When it begins leasing the ActiveE this fall, the two-year-lease will cost $499 a month with a down payment of $2,250.
This is the second-generation electric vehicle BMW is leasing as it prepares to sell its i3 — a pure EV — in 2013.
It will also sell a small number of i8 vehicles — a supercar with an electric motor and a hybrid gasoline engine — for more than $100,000, said Richard Steinberg, manager of electric vehicle operations and strategy for BMW North America.
Steinberg said the volume of the i3 would be similar to the Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt — or around 10,000 to 20,000 in the first year.
In 2009, BMW leased about 450 of its Mini EV in the United States — and another 250 around the world. It extended the leases of about 100 owners and sent the rest to France and China for further testing.
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