At BMW, we are focused on creating the best solutions for individual mobility. To d a y , t h a t means looking at mobility in a completely new way. The world, and with it the sphere of personal mobility, is experiencing a period of radical change.
Global developments - climate change, increasing urbanization, and new communication technologies, for example - call for a new balance between the demands of the planet and the desires of the individual.
From an automotive standpoint, this means we can no longer think of the automobile as merely a way of getting from Point A to Point B. Fresh solutions are required to develop personal and, most importantly, sustainable mobility. The BMW Group has responded to this situation with the creation of a sub-brand which meets the changing needs of customers head-on: BMW i.
BMW i - BMW i cars will set new standards for clean individual mobility of the future. We believe the BMW Group presents the most compelling concept for electric mobility. There are several factors that set us apart in creating viable mobility for the future. For example, our electric vehicles are purposebuilt, not conversions of existing products; we use industry-leading lightweight construction; and our electric motor technology and battery development are in-house.
And before our first BMW i products hit the road, we will have tested our technologies through real customer trials of more than 13 million kilometres.
The first two production vehicles to come to market under the BMW i sub-brand will be the i3 and i8. These are not conversion vehicles; they are purpose-built visionary automobiles. One of our most important learnings from our field trials was that to be truly viable, our electric vehicles would need a unique-to-themselves architecture in order to meet the expectations (such as space requirements) of our customers.
The i3 and i8, therefore, are horizontally divided into what we call BMW LifeDrive architecture. On the top is a Life module with a passenger cell constructed of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP), and on the bottom is a Drive module - an aluminum rolling chassis fitted with all the drive components, including the high-voltage batteries.
The BMW i3 will be an uncompromisingly sustainable vehicle designed for urban areas - emission-free electric mobility and an intelligent form of urban transportation and commuting. The BMW i8 will combine the performance of a sports car (less than five seconds to accelerate from zero to 100 km/h) with the fuel consumption of a subcompact (less than 3.0L/100 km).
Shaping the future of individual mobility -? The new BMW i sub-brand will address customers' mobility requirements in a truly innovative and sustainable way. But it is not only through the i3 and i8 that BMW is creating innovations for the future of mobility.
A central aim of our corporate strategy is the realignment of the BMW Group as a provider of mobility solutions. Our goal is to get both our vehicle customers and our service users to their destinations faster, more reliably and in greater comfort through the seamless and intelligent linking of various means of transport and information systems.
For example: Car Sharing - The BMW Group and Sixt AG have partnered to offer a unique and innovative car-sharing venture called DriveNow. With a growing demand for flexible mobility services in urban areas, this venture allows the BMW Group to position itself as a mobility provider and not just an auto manufacturer.
ConnectedDrive - Since the beginning of the 1970s when BMW started linking the automobile to the outside world, BMW engineers have been responsible for many milestones in the development of information, communication and assistance systems concerned with the motor vehicle. Pioneering innovations for the entire automobile industry have included Park Distance Control and the integrated navigation system.
Today, we offer BMW and Mini customers even more vehicle-related services through BMW ConnectedDrive. On the one hand, there is a variety of convenience and infotainment features such as Surround View (which provides a bird's-eye view of the area around the car to ease parking manoeuvres), BMW Concierge Service (which provides you access to a personal call-centre agent at any time of day or night), Mobile Office (which will read you your emails while you drive), and BMW Apps (which brings functions and features normally available on your iPhone - such as Facebook, Twitter and Web radio - directly into your BMW).
On the other hand, ConnectedDrive offers safety-related features such as Head-Up Display (which projects key driving information onto the windscreen at eye level), Night Vision (via infrared technology, it detects people, animals and other warm objects outside the reach of the headlights, showing them in the Control Display or Head-Up Display), and Lane Departure Warning (which signals the driver when he or she has unintentionally left the lane).
In the future, we will significantly expand these kinds of features by offering mobility services independently of the vehicle - for BMW and Mini customers, for people who are neither BMW nor Mini drivers, and even for people who do not own a car. We want to be both a service provider ourselves, but also to offer services in cooperation with established operators and innovative start-up companies.
As you can see, innovation is at the core of everything we are doing at BMW today. We look forward to helping define the future of mobility.
PRESIDENT AND CEO BMW GROUP CANADA