MUNICH -- BMW will not develop a successor to its i3 full-electric hatchback, the automaker's marketing director, Pieter Nota, told the Financial Times.
The i3 will be phased out slowly because BMW will focus on battery and plug-in technology on its other models, while also launching new full EVs.
"There is no concrete plan for an i3 successor. We are now bringing electrification more into the mainstream," Nota said.
BMW wants to market its best-selling models as plug-in hybrids so that they can run on emissions-free electric power in the city, but also over longer distances.
BMW is also planning to sell 13 full-electric vehicles by 2023.
The i3 came onto the market in 2013 and is due to be renewed next year. It was BMW's first purely battery-powered car. The aim was to test customers' response to full-electric vehicles without compromising sales of the automaker's sedans.
BMW sold 157,129 units of the i3 in the first eight months.
