SPY PICS: BMW's 'i' to the future

The MegaCity EV concept will reach production, as the BMW i3
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BMW's new niche brand is developing apace. Dedicated to producing environmentally responsible cars -- and named 'i' -- it's already been outed by Car games parazzi testing the i8 hybrid above the arctic circle, but now the master spy photographers have also caught the i3 electric vehicle during filming of a TV production.

The i3 will be the production version of the MegaCity concept, revealed to be in the pipeline two years ago. BMW expects to sell as many as 30,000 of the EV during its first full year on sale, in 2014, according to Carparazzi and the spy snappers have heard around the traps that BMW will ask buyers to stump up €40,000 for the i3. Both the i3 and the i8 will be properly unveiled near the end of 2013 and will be marketed under the brand's slogan: "Born Electric".

BMW will build both vehicles at its Leipzig plant and the prestige manufacturer already has a snappy catchphrase for the combination of aluminium chassis and carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) safety cell: "LifeDrive architecture".

-- with Carparazzi

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