Comments on: BMW to Lease CA MINI EV

By: Mirko Reinhardt

Mirko Reinhardt — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:26:23 +0000

Hey, that’s the Courréges Zooop in the picture. Do I win something because I know that it has a 150 kW AC Propulsion drivetrain, weighs 690 kg and runs on lithium polymer batteries?
It competed in the Challenge Bibendum a few years ago. Courréges always gets some colorful Michelins.

By: Andy D

Andy D — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:38:13 +0000

Faster than a Tesla?

By: shaker

shaker — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:23:20 +0000

It would be cool to see how they implement this, as an old “new” MINI (hooray) with a blown engine would have another upgrade path (for the brave at heart).

The all-caps MINI is the joke, kinda like “jumbo shrimp”.

By: yankinwaoz

yankinwaoz — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:35:12 +0000

Actually, with European nations pushing hard to implement carbon footprint taxes, this might actually give BMW a nice break from them.

By: folkdancer

folkdancer — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:58:54 +0000

“Loose money on every one” and “largest Cafe fines”

Come on you guys! Think of how much BMW will learn from this experiment!
Is there a market?
How does the car handle the weight of the batteries?
Can all parts of the drive line handle the torque of the electric motor?
Where is the best placement for the batteries?
How does everything work in the cold of Northern CA and the heat of Southern CA?

GM experimented with small electric pick ups (S10’s I think) for only 2 or maybe 3 years back in the 1970’s. These trucks were used by electric power companies but a few got into the hands of individuals. I saw and had demonstrated one from the first year and one from the second year of production. The differences were striking – GM had made great improvements in just one year, mostly in the controls for the batteries and in the dash board readouts.

Who knows what sort of vehicles we would have now if GM had kept making improvements. Who knows what BMW electric mini’s will be like in 10 years if BMW keeps making improvements.

Let’s sit back and enjoy the experiment.

By: Pch101

Pch101 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:22:40 +0000

I wouldn’t be so quick to proclaim that BMW will be taking a bath on those 500 EV Mini’s its going to bring to the U.S.

I doubt that the lease payments will be sufficient to cover the cost of the battery pack, let alone everything else.

Plus, the cars won’t likely have any residual value at all. Instead of being sold as used or CPO’d cars, they’ll probably just be scrapped, which takes thousands of more dollars off the table.

I suspect that it’s just a PR exercise. Smart move, all of the publicity and positive buzz should more than cover the expense, even though the cars themselves should bleed red.

By: RGS920

RGS920 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:07:01 +0000

I wouldn’t be so quick to proclaim that BMW will be taking a bath on those 500 EV Mini’s its going to bring to the U.S. BMW pays some of the largest CAFE fines each year on their products. This will have a positive effect (although likely a splash in the bucket) on their CAFE average but I wonder if they might get additional benefits/tax breaks under current U.S. regulations?

By: fellswoop

fellswoop — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:06:52 +0000

Somebody needs to get that man in the photo out of that gigantic mobile popcorn popper before he gets hurt.

By: J.on

J.on — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:44:51 +0000

tony-e30, The car will probably be leased in 2009 as a 2010 model.

By: netrun

netrun — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:35:02 +0000

Great. More MINI’s no one can get their hands on.

Stupid things are so popular the used ones cost almost as much as the new ones.

Who do they think they are, Honda?

By: tony-e30

tony-e30 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:34:11 +0000

I believe the year 2010 failed to be mentioned anywhere in this story. What gives?

By: BlueEr03

BlueEr03 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:33:52 +0000

Gawdodirt, the one difference between BMW and GM is that BMW actually makes profit on their other cars. I think they can take a hit on a whole 500 cars. Of course, if this was GM, 500 would be equal to the number of actual CARS they sold in the 2nd Q.

By: J.on

J.on — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:15:13 +0000

If we’ve learned anything regarding the EV-1 fiasco, it’s that no one has learned anything regarding the EV-1 fiasco.

By: seoultrain

seoultrain — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:52:30 +0000

There’s nothing MINI about capitalization. Wouldn’t “mini” make more sense? To go along with their green image, they need to be more responsible with their shift key consumption.

Also, is that a life-size Automoblox in the picture?

By: gawdodirt

gawdodirt — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:46:46 +0000

“Needless to say BMW will take a bath on every EV MINI they sell.

Don’t they know that they NEED to make a profit on every car they sell??!?!?

Why, they’re being a veritable copy of GM in this sense!!!! Shameless promotion and losing money on EV’s!!!!

OMG!!!

By: The Comedian

The Comedian — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:44:44 +0000

Didn’t they learn the lesson of the EV-1?

They should sell these outright if only to avoid the possibility that some beaner in the future will want to recall all the leased vehicles and send them to the crusher.

Oh, and silver with a yellow roof misses out on a great co-branding opportunity. They could paint them black with a copper top or silver with a black top and cash in.

If I had one of these I’d put a huge “+” on the roof and and “-” down near the rocker panels.