BMW’s Electric Vehicle Program: Still Stuck in Neutral?

I was amused at the remarks of BMW’s spokesperson Tom Kowaleski when I talked to him about two years ago about the company’s initial foray into the electric vehicles market with the Mini E. He snickered when I asked if he’d consider sponsoring the website I had recently joined as a junior partner, EVWorld.com. “Craig, I have about 800 of these cars to lease, the same year I’ll be trying to sell a thousand times that number with internal combustion engines. Where do you think my attention is?” he chuckled.

I got the joke instantly. These guys didn’t get where they are by taking their eyes off the ball financially. And here, it looks like BMW’s attention hasn’t moved too far in the intervening 24 months. According to Greenbeat,

“The ActiveE isn’t going directly on the market, like the Nissan Leaf or the Tesla Roadster — instead BMW will lease about 700 cars out for $500 a month over 2 years. …. BMW said the car can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 9 seconds. The Nissan Leaf, another plug-in electric car, can accelerate from 0 to 60 in about 7 seconds based on independent testing. BMW is known as manufacturer of performance vehicles, so some critics question why the company didn’t create an electric car with more power….”

Sorry, guys, maybe I’m missing something, but it still doesn’t seem like you’re trying too hard.