11:33 am, March 31, 2021
BMW has slashed the price of its i3 and i3s electric models so buyers can still benefit from the changes to the plug-in car grant.
The government cut the grant from £3,000 to £2,500 on March 18 and lowered the threshold for eligible vehicles from £50,000 to £35,000 at the same time, meaning many new car buyers would miss out on the savings.
In response, BMW has cut the cost of its entry-level i3 to £33,805 after raising it to £39,690 from £36,025 at the start of March.
Meanwhile, the more powerful i3s, pictured, now costs £34,805 – down from some £42,300.
Once the grant is applied, they’ll cost £31,305 and £32,305 respectively. The level of standard equipment on both stays the same as well.
Had it not done so, anyone looking to buy the entry-level model would have been a lot worse off.
The i3 has a range of 182 to 190 miles from one charge, while the punchier i3s returns a slightly lower 150 to 173 miles.
BMW has had a great deal of success with the i3, which went on sale in the UK in 2013, shifting more than 22,000 here and more than 200,000 worldwide.
It was one of the firm’s earliest electric-only models.
More recently, BMW has vowed to have 13 fully electric models on the road from 2023, with at least one electric model offered in 90 per cent of its current market segments.
The price reduction mirrors a move by a lot of other manufacturers, with companies such as Peugeot cutting the cost of its e-2008 and Kia slashing the price of its e-Niro.
