BMW to end i3 production, but about to unveil an electric motorcycle

German luxury automaker BMW is ending production of its landmark i3 electric hatchback this month, although its motorcycle brand, BMW Motorrad, is set to unveil an electric motorcycle this week.

The demise of the i3 was first reported to be ending production by the BMW Blog on June 25 and was subsequently confirmed to outlets with a short statement that the i3 would end production in July.

“The success of the BMW i3 and the experience gained in developing and manufacturing it have laid the groundwork for the next generation of BMW electric vehicles — the fully electric BMW iX and the BMW i4 Gran Coupe, both of which arrive in the US early next year,” the company said in its statement.

First launched back in 2013, the i3 was BMW’s first production series electric car, and over time it gained a cult following, selling somewhere over 200,000 models.

With an expensive design and costly materials such as carbon-fibre, reinforced plastic and aluminium – all of which required new carbon-fibre factories in the US and Germany – while only ever being the car company’s first steps into the electro-mobility pool, it is not surprising that the i3 has reached the end of its useful lifespan for BMW.

Across the way at BMW’s motorcycle brand, BMW Motorrad (German for motorcycle), July 7 is expected to see the launch of a brand-new electric motorcycle (or scooter, depending on which outlets you believe).

Exactly what will be unveiled, we’ll just have to wait and see, but several outlets are guessing that it will be the promised BMW CE-04 electric scooter.

And, if you watch the brief teaser trailer that BMW Motorrad posted on their Twitter account, you’ll see that they give a glimpse of the BMW Motorrad GE-04 logo, which presumably confirms the rumours.

BMW Motorrad also announced last week that they would be hosting a “world premiere of a pioneering, electric vehicle” across the company’s Facebook and YouTube channels.

We don’t know a lot about the CE-04 except what it is going to look like, which BMW Motorrad has not been shy of making known – as demonstrated by this video from November 2020:

Part-electric motorcycle, part-electric scooter, part-melding the two to the point where reporting on new electric two-wheeled vehicles is going to become very difficult, the CE-04 looks nice, really nice, with a futuristic look that doesn’t also make it look ugly.

Personally, though, I really want one of these awesome light-up jackets.