BMW i3 Electric Car Teardown: Profitable At 20,000 Units, Says Engineer (Video)

Underneath its radical styling, the BMW i3 electric car has some unusual features.

Its carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) body shell and aluminum chassis are unlike anything found in most other cars--let alone its floor-mounted battery pack and optional range-extending two-cylinder engine.

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That's why a firm specializing in reverse-engineering for the auto industry recently took apart an i3 to unlock its secrets, and gave Forbes a look.

Munro & Associates orchestrated a "teardown" at its facility outside Detroit last month, and chief executive A. Sandy Munro said he was impressed with what he found.

Munro's company disassembles new cars to offer competitors a chance to see how they're constructed and how much they may cost to build.

One of the highlights of the i3 tear down was the "Life Module" body shell, which accounts for the majority of the car's structural strength.

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Munro was impressed by how the fibers of the material were aligned to resist crushing, and by BMW's decision to use the still-exotic CFRP in a mass-market car in the first place.