The 2012 BMW Isetta - Review and Pricing

The 2012 BMW Isetta - Review and Pricing

First Look to The The 2012 BMW Isetta

Back in December 2007, we announced that BMW is looking into the possibility of building an electric car for the U.S market. Just a few months later, a BMW executive reported that BMW might go the electric route for the american market rather than hydrogen. Shortly after that, based on a rumor from Autoblog, we figured that, if BMW will revive the Isetta, it will not happen before 2012.

Well, it seems like we were right again. Autocar UK has just reported that a rear-engined city car could be called Isetta and will first arrive in American showrooms in 2012. BMW is kinda forced into making this car available to the U.S market because of a California regulation which stip

ulates that large auto makers to sell between a few hundred and a few thousand Zero Emission Vehicle every year starting in 2012. Under the Californian regulations, the Zero Emission Vehicles can either be a fuel cell or battery-powered vehicle with a range of over 200 miles, or an Advanced Technology, Partial Zero-Emission Vehicle (AT-PZEV) powered by a hybrid powertrain, by compressed natural gas (CNG) or by a methanol fuel cell.

The new Isetta will also spawn a new range of city cars. The new range will be powered both diesel and gasoline powerplants, and future models could even be motivated by BMW motorcycle engines.

BMW has to decide which brand it will market the new car under and is still c

onsidering a partnership with another automaker. “It could be BMW, Mini or another name,” BMW chief Norbert Reithofer told AutoCar. He continued by saying “co-operation [with another car maker] is possible,” stating that BMW would decide on the matter by the end of 2008.

But after the extensive rumors of a BMW-Fiat partnership dissipated, a new rumor emerged that BMW would be instead turning to Toyota for its iQ platform. This arrangement seems more likely as the iQ has already been getting around other automaker’s garages, as seen with the recent Aston Martin Cygnet.

Isetta is the result of BMW’s “Project i unit,” which has been working largely independently to develop electric car technology. BMW has not released any specifics on this technology, but it is expected that some form of pure EV or hybrid technology will eventually make its way into the Isetta production car.

Power for the Isetta will come from a lithium-ion battery pack with a range of about 100 miles as a pure-EV. BMW is also developing a range of gas and diesel engines for the Isetta, although those variants will likely be reserved for developing regions – particularly China.