The bar was set high, as the Munich-based car manufacturer BMW introduced almost six years ago, his first production-ready electric car. “The BMW i3 is more than just a car,” said the then-Chairman, Norbert Reithofer, during the presentation in July 2013. “It is a revolutionary step towards sustainable mobility.” A small Revolution – no more, no less, had written to BMW on the flags.
Martin Gropp
editor in the economy.
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after deducting the usual Marketing Hyperbole, the i3 is actually a special feature. BMW made so it was a good half decade, what other German car producers working today with full force: as a well-established manufacturer, a first series-to bring electric car on the road.
even If by some today as a “BMW for Birkenstock-wearers” sneered at, meant the i3 for its manufacturer, but the Start in the era of electric mobility. For the former BMW Manager Ulrich Kranz, he was probably the most important target within a particular challenge.
New issues for a car manufacturer
a Good six years before BMW, proclaimed the Revolution and the i3 at the first customer delivered, the company had transferred to the engineer wreath namely, the “Project i”. Started as a kind of secret laboratory, it should be to thinking workshop for new mobility of the automobile manufacturer. At the beginning of the project, in 2007, had been the question of how an established car must mobile align the company because, in order to be successful in the future, recalls wreath today. “We dealt with the technologies that may be necessary, especially with the electric mobility. There was the question of how customers ‘ needs change, for example, if more people move to cities and mobility as a service demands.“
It should raise questions that had been BMW, until then, never in this depth and the “Project i” and, further, to be able to answer. Therefore, the former group’s Executive Board wreath’ team and their work from the day to day business divested – “to swing,” as it is expressed in the now 60-year-old engineer. This step was a pull not a matter of course – because the traditional business with cars with internal combustion engines to be run at this time. “In a Moment, something Fundamental change is not so easy.”
development on the “green Meadow”
for rim, even the “Project i” was something completely New. Prior to that, the engineer for BMW was responsible for the development, for example, and the start of production of the sporty off-roader X5 in the group’s own plant in Spartanburg in the United States, or the vehicle’s development of the subsidiary brand Mini led. The were certainly challenges, however, rim has been able to address you with experienced staff and well-proven processes. Now, the aim was to create something completely New.