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Originally Posted by W///
Here's a few reasons I would say it's not doable, in no particular order:
1) Industrialization: How many chassis can they build out of CF vs aluminum and steel? Can a plant even handle the demand? The i3 and i8 are a drop in the bucket compared to the 3 Series. And that doesn't even count the other 35UP cars. So are you changing all of them to CF monocoque?
Stamping sheet metal parts vs laying down CF are 2 entirely different worlds.
2) Profit: I'm willing to bet that BMW pretty much barely broke even with the i3. Not the case with a 3er
To me, the little i3 should be compared to something closer to maybe a 1er or 2er in terms of size, base model vs base model. i3 starts at 44k and 230i starts at 34k. That's closer to a 10k swing the other way vs an M340i.
3) Repairs: Are body shops capable of repairing that many CF cars?
Just a few thoughts on top of my head. I'm sure there's more.
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1) If they can do it profitably at current scale (~35,000 cars per year currently IIRC), they could make more of the same factory design to make more cars profitably.
2) Per BMW, the i3 has been profitable from day 1.
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According to the German automaker, the BW i3 was conceived to be a profit-maker. BMW says that it won't lose a penny on the i3.
The Wall Street Journal quotes BMW global sales and marketing chief, Ian Robertson, as saying that the i3 will be "profitable from Day One on each vehicle it made."
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001...35543525172364
I would assume it wasn't hugely profitable at the beginning, but annual sales have more than doubled since then. I'd assume economies of scale would have it profitable by now.
Size: the i3 is call the i
3 because it has the space of a 3 series inside. I don't see any reason for that to change with a gas car, as the CFRP monocoque is the passenger cell-- which would be the same size for a 3 series.
3) On the i3, most crashes of the magnitude that are repairable on steel cars are absorbed by the easily replaceable honeycomb crash absorbing structure, leaving the CFRP monocoque undamaged.
Not that this has stopped them in the past-- alu chassis are also difficult for body shops to repair, but the e60 was alu.