SPY PICS: BMW i3 in cold-weather testing

'MegaCity' EV caught in snowy Scandinavia two years ahead of production
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The paisley swirls of BMW's chosen prototype camouflage can't hide the odd proportions and skinny tyres. This is BMW's i3 electric vehicle, spotted and snapped by the master spy photographers at Carparazzi while undergoing cold-weather testing in northern Europe.

According to the photographers, the i3 was tracked down to exactly the same location as the last time, 10 months ago. There's little else revealed by the pics themselves since the previous article, although BMW has been busy elsewhere in the meantime. The company recently announced the acquisition of a 15.16 per cent share of SGL Carbon SE, a company at the leading edge of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) production for future automotive concepts and products.

BMW and SLG Automotive Carbon Fibers jointly run a manufacturing plant for the lightweight material. The plant has been established at Moses Lake, Washington state in the USA, from where the factory output is shipped to Wackersdorf in Germany. There, the materials are fashioned into carbonfibre textiles that are then freight-forwarded to another plant at Landshut, where the goods become body components for production of the i3 and i8 hybrid at Leipzig.

Clearly, BMW is ensuring exclusive supply of the exotic material for both its i-branded eco cars. There's always some lesson to be learned from the British motor industry, isn't there...?

— with Carparazzi

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