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BMW i3, i8 sales strong enough to reach almost 17,800 in 2014

BMW makes its futuristic i brand vehicles – the i3 and i8 – at a plant in Leipzig, Germany. But the customers most willing to buy one of these plug-in cars live in the country where the lightweight carbon fiber used in the body structure is made: the United States. Speaking at the Detroit Auto Show this week, Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management at BMW AG, said, "The US is already our largest market for our electric vehicles, the BMW i3 and BMW i8. Worldwide, we sold close to 18,000 BMW i models last year. Nearly three-quarters of these sales occurred in the second half of the year, when the global rollout – including the US – really got underway. Demand for these vehicles continues to be high and I'm delighted that we've been able to increase production to meet that demand." That sounds great, but the numbers aren't huge. BMW sold 6,092 i3s and 555 i8s (for a total of 6,647 i vehicles) in the US last year. Globally, BMW sold over two million vehicles in 2014, and 17,793 of those were plug-in i vehicles (16,052 of the i3 and 1,741 i8s). The production increase wasn't huge. BMW was making just 10 i8 vehicles a day at the beginning, but doubled that to 20 last fall. Since last spring (around April or May), the company has been making over 100 i3s a day, BMW spokesperson Verena Von L'estocq tells AutoblogGreen. Getting production right this first year has meant slow going, but "We're comfortable now," she said, adding that BMW expects more production increases in the future. Related Video:

BMW's next-century concept mentions no powertrain, and we're sad

So the Ultimate Driving Machine might soon become the Ultimate Machine Driver. We get it, that's the way things are moving. For its part, BMW still plans to involve a driver in its next-century designs, as foretold by the Vision Next 100 concept it unveiled at its centenary celebration kickoff event. But what gets us is that BMW, Bayerische Motoren Werke, the company known for delivering some of the most sorted powertrains – gasoline and otherwise – over the last century makes no mention of the future of propulsion when presenting its idea of the next 100 years on the road. Maybe it's the fact we just don't know what will power our cars even 10 years down the line; locking into one concept or another could look bad in hindsight. But the whole, er, concept of a concept is to look at what might be possible, not avoid sticky issues. Where are the in-hub motors, the wireless charging mats, the onboard fusion reactors we were promised in Back to the Future Part II? This is an opportunity to offer innovative solutions. Skipping over the power was a mistake, and one that makes me a little disappointed in the company. I'd have liked to see BMW go big with a bold prediction, or even just admit that gas will be gone and some form of electrification will take its place by 2116. We're okay with electric motors as long as they don't drain the life out of cars, and they don't have to, which is something companies like Tesla and even BMW have proven. Here's hoping one of BMW's other centenary concepts will pick up where the Vision Next 100 fell short. Related Video: Featured Gallery BMW Vision Next 100 Concept Green BMW bmw vision next 100 concept

YouTube viewers prefer BMW

BMW owners sometimes get a bad rap as being snobbish, rude drivers, but according to a new study by the online marketing company ZEFR, Bimmer aficionados also have a close relationship with the brand's vehicles. With well over 4 billion YouTube views, the German automaker is the industry's king of the road online. Making the popularity even sweeter for marketers, 95 percent of those clicks are for fan videos, which represents loads of free advertising. BMW isn't the only automaker with such an extensive following. Honda comes in a close second with around 4 billion views, and Mercedes-Benz is just a little behind it. Among all brands, it's the norm for fan-made videos rather than the official ones to get the lion's share of the clicks, generally 95 percent or more. "YouTube has become a treasure trove for connecting with the right people for automakers," Dave Rosner, ZEFR marketing boss, said to Automotive News. Beyond just a popularity contest among brands, automotive videos are big business on YouTube, according to ZEFR's research. Enthusiasts are leading the way, too. Racing is by far the most-watched category with 895,000 clips generating a staggering 8.2 billion views. Classic cars are also a very hot topic with 305,000 videos getting 1.6 billion clicks. Surprisingly, when it comes to watching auto videos, sedans are most popular on YouTube with over 9 billion views, according to Automotive News. Meanwhile, SUVs, performance vehicles, and pickups were each around 3 billion or less. You can check out the full study for yourself, as a PDF, here. Related Video: