Some Hero Bought A Brand New 2021 BMW i3 This Year

The end of the first quarter of 2024 means we get a look at some of the oddities automakers sold in the first three months of this year. Usually, it’s pretty uneventful, but sometimes you get a little gems. Take BMW’s Q1 report for example. It’s all pretty run-of-the-mill until you notice a little “1” on its spreadsheet. That “1” represents a BMW i3. Yes, the car that was last in production for the 2021 model year. Some hero decided to spend their hard-earned money on a brand new three-year-old BMW electric car, and I love them for it.

Even when they were new, the i3 was a bit of a curiosity. In a lot of ways, it was ahead of its time. Back in 2013, not many automakers were bothering with EVs yet, and BMW still managed to give us this neat little electric pod. It was obviously not perfect. The i3 had just an 81-mile range when it first came out. The car incrementally improved, though. By the end of its run, it had a 153-mile range and a gas range extender called the REx that could bring you all the way up 200 miles of range. That’s not awful.