What is built like a Tesla Model S and looks like an updated Honda Element?

BMW's new i3 looks like an updated, more aerodynamic version of the boxy Honda Element, especially in the arrangement of the four doors. The front doors must be opened to reach the hidden handles of the back doors, which are hinged at the rear and sometimes referred to as "suicide doors."

The hidden handle of a rear door in the BMW i3.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

BMW says its new iBrand is "fueled by innovation," but one of the two models seems to have borrowed a number of ideas from Tesla, Chevrolet and Honda.

The BMW i3 is a four-door hatchback built on a battery platform that looks a lot like the one used by Tesla's all-electric Model S.

The i3 is available as an all-electric car with a range of about 80 miles, but buyers can choose the extra-cost option of a 2-cylinder gasoline engine that charges the battery and doubles the range.

With the plug-in Volt, Chevrolet uses a gas-powered generator that performs the same function to extend the EPA-estimated range of 38 miles on the battery alone.

And the hidden handles of the rear "suicide doors" in the i8 mimic the arrangement in the boxy Element sport-utility vehicle, which Honda stopped making in 2011.

Where the i3 and companion i8 have innovated is in the extensive use of carbon fiber. 

In the i3, the passenger compartment is made primarily from molded carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, the German automaker says. 
  

The platform of the Tesla Model S.

BMW's plug-in sports car

The other model in the iBrand is the low-slung i8, a plug-in hybrid that sounds and drives like a sports car.

If a BMW is "The Ultimate Driving Machine," the i8's high sills, scissor doors and lack of passenger-assist handles make it "The Ultimate Pain in the Ass" to get into and out of.

The i3 has the same controls you'll find in a conventional BMW, above and below. The base model of the i3 doesn't have touchscreen navigation.

The 17-inch iPad-like touchscreen in the Tesla Model S eliminates many of the buttons and other controls found in a conventional car.

The Model S is a heavy four-door luxury hatchback. Some writers have described the BMW i3 as a luxury car, but the base "Mega World" model I drove for two days was somewhat spartan, with cloth-covered seats and recycled material used on the dashboard and other surfaces.

Did Tesla's Elon Musk pull strings to get The Times to fold Automobiles section?

The all-electric Tesla Model S is a large, heavy and luxurious four-door hatchback, as seen in this image from a company gallery in Westfield Garden State Plaza, a shopping center in Paramus.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When automobile writers get together for lunch once a month in Manhattan, you never know what you might hear.

I arrived on the ninth floor of the 3 West Club just before 12:30 on Tuesday to find the room full of members and guests of the International Motor Press Association.

I saw Norman Mayersohn, deputy Automobiles editor at The New York Times, speaking to an older man I didn't know, and the latter wished Mayersohn all the best.

When I asked what happened, I was told The Times is folding its 20-year-old Automobiles section, ostensibly for economic reasons.

The older man claimed Elon Musk, CEO of California-based Tesla, reacted angrily when the Automobiles section published favorable articles in October about BMW's new iBrand, a plug-in hybrid sports car and an all-electric sedan.

Musk went to the higher ups and had something to do with The Times decision to fold the Sunday section, the man said.

The Times' evaluation of the i8 compared the cramped sports car favorably to the Tesla Model S, a luxurious four-door hatchback, and completely ignored the BMW's shockingly impractical ergonomics.

Musk blasted Times

In 2013, Musk claimed Times reporter John Broder falsified information about the performance and range of the all-electric Model S.

On Feb. 13, 2013, in a follow-up entry in the Tesla Blog, Musk wrote:

"Yesterday, The New York Times reversed its opinion on the review of our Model S and no longer believes that it was an accurate account of what happened. After investigating the facts surrounding the test drive, the Public Editor agreed that John Broder had 'problems with precision and judgment,' 'took casual and imprecise notes' and made 'few conclusions that are unassailable.'”

Mayersohn, who didn't hear the other man's comments about Musk, said later the section is expected to fold at the end of the year.

During lunch, he noted The Times is the only newspaper that pays for the so-called press cars it evaluates and forbids staffers from going on junkets that are paid for by the manufacturers of cars, tires and other products.

BMW executive wears pants to discuss ergonomically challenging i8 sports car

Trudy Hardy, BMW's marketing vice president, admits getting out of the low-slung i8 hybrid sports car "takes some grace and finesse." I describe it as an ergonomic nightmare that poses a challenge to the dignity of any woman who wears a skirt.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

BMW isn't the biggest automaker in the world, but this year, the company debuted its iBrand -- a plug-in hybrid sports car and a more practical sedan that is available in purely electric form.

It's hard to believe the two cars came from the same engineering department.

And the German automaker seems to have conceded the all-electric luxury market to the Tesla Model S, a big four-door hatchback with a range of 200 miles or more.

The BMW i8 wows you with its performance and super-car sounds, but it's so difficult to get out of you have to conclude it was designed by men exclusively for men.

Trudy Hardy on the iBrand

This afternoon, BMW sent a woman, Marketing Vice President Trudy Hardy, to discuss the company's iBrand at the monthly meeting of the International Motor Press Association.

Hardy wore pants.

She recalled the time on a cross-country trip when she had to change clothes in the back seat of a Mini, another BMW brand.

That experience has helped her deal with the challenging ergonomics of the i8, she said.

At the moment, she said, BMW has no plans to add more models to the iBrand, but is keeping its eye on Tesla as a competitor.

"I thank them every day because they bring awareness to electric vehicles," she said of Tesla.

Tesla's 3 Series fighter

The California-based company says that in 2017, it will introduce a smaller all-electric car, called the Model E, with a range of 200 miles and a starting price of $35,000.

One publication, Auto Express, calls the Model E a BMW 3 Series fighter.

BMW i3 and i8

The BMW i3 has seating for four, an MSRP of $41,350 and an EPA-estimated range of 81 miles.

A second version comes with a security blanket or what the automaker calls a "Range Extender" -- a 2-cylinder gasoline engine with a 2-gallon tank that recharges the battery -- increasing the car's range to 150 miles.

Both versions take 3.5 hours to charge fully. 

The all-wheel-drive BMW i8 has an MSRP of $137,500.

BMW is selling more than 1,000 of its more practical, all-electric i3 sedans each month, Marketing Vice President Trudy Hardy told a monthly gathering of automobile writers in Manhattan today. 

I got a chance to drive the i8 in September. To get into the low-slung car with scissor doors, you plant your tush in the driver's seat, then swing your legs over the high sill. In trying to get out, I couldn't find an assist handle to grab onto and had to ask another writer for a hand. The company has sold about 300 i8s, Hardy said.