An Emerging Marketing Success

BMW i Series
BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volkswagen
and Audi; all giants; all German; and it is all
about prestige.
A formally harmonious product needs no
decoration; it should be elevated through pure
form once said by Ferdinand Porsche, who
designed the first ever electric-hybrid car in
1901! His view exactly describes why giants try
to preserve its core values.
Are you familiar with Bayerische Motoren
Werke? No? Does BMW sound familiar
then? Founded in 1916,
BMW is a German
automobile, motorcycle
and engine
manufacturing company.
Despite its success as a
premium brand in
market, they have
approached a niche
market which was not
addressed by many.
The BMW-i is a sub-brand of BMW founded in
2011. It was implemented to design and
manufacture electric hybrid vehicles having
believed that electric cars will replace their
gasoline counterparts in the very near future.
The i3 all-electric car and the i8 plug-in hybrid
concept versions were shown at the 2009
Frankfurt Motor Show. Retail sales began in
September 2013.
There was a need for electric cars in the recent
past and hence a demand was created. There
were a number of electric hybrids and plug-in
hybrids available at the market, but not an
electric supercar. They have positioned their
innovation-driven i8 in a niche market with rich
customers. BMWs reputation is that they offer
more than expected from the customers; of
course, at a premium price.
The BMW-i is the first mass produced electric
car to be developed from scratch. What has
happened earlier is that electric cars have been
developed upon technologies and platforms
built by the predecessors. BMW set up a
separate business unit to develop the BMW-i. It
is supposed to eliminate the perception among
the public that BMW is specialized in gasoline-
based high performance cars; a key decision to
make a breakthrough in the electric car market.
Uwe Dreher, the head of marketing for the
electric car says that this was necessary in case
traditional engineers unintentionally sabotaged
the project. Further he said[1] that, "What
would have happened is when technical
development has been concentrated for 40 to
50 years on the internal combustion engine, it
gives everyone security, It's a human condition
to be afraid when people face new things and
have no experience out of their comfort zone
Capturing the market over public perception
was a major concern for BMW since it was their
first ever electric vehicle and it was to be a
multi-billion dollar development project. The
series-i has been implemented as a sub brand
for the redundancy to provide the comfort to
the buyer to ensure that it is highly specialized
project for electric vehicles and not just a try-
out. This marketing approach of BMW shows a
real intent to succeed through this project.
"We are owned by a family that wants to have
this company healthy in 20 years, and is not
sucking out the profits every year but invests for
the long term and is prepared to harvest profits
in the future," the head of marketing says.
Sustainable innovations have emerged through
the bottom up development. The vehicle is
manufactured from carbon-fibre, which
according to BMW reduces its weight largely
adding value. The battery is fitted under the
seats to lower the center of gravity. BMW-I is
advertised for its light-weightiness. [2]
One of the best marketed concepts of the car is
its eco-friendliness. It is obvious that since it is
an electric hybrid, eco-friendliness comes in to
the scene. Hence to enhance that perception,
FSC-certified eucalyptus wood has been used in
the interior, the leather has been naturally
tanned using olive oil, and some parts are made
from natural fibres rather than plastic.
Since the body of the car uses much carbon
fibre, a lot of energy is being consumed. The
fibreglass factory uses 100% renewable energy.
The production plant uses 50% less energy and
70% less water. 95% of BMW-i materials can be
recycled. Batteries can be used as temporary
storage for renewable powerplants. These
enable to market the green-tag of the i series.
With the green tag, it is now coming to a level
where the wealthier consumers see electric cars
as a status symbol.
"For us, there are different levels of payback.
We maintain our image as an innovative car
manufacturer which guarantees a premium
price. We also have the advantage of
developing future technologies that we would
have to invest in later anyway, and there is an
advantage to being first." explains the director
of marketing.
Electric car sales increased almost 3 times each
year recently and hence the vacuum was
identified.
Since Kodaks marketing myopia dilemma, the
established industries seek the need of
transition to a disruptive technology. Since it
has addressed a new dimension of the market,
the i3 is bringing in a whole lot of first-time
BMW customers. In fact, it is said that 80% of
BMW i3 buyers came to BMW from other
brands.
It is identified that the frontrunners who initiate
the technologies make the best profits in most
cases. Take the examples from Toyota in
gasoline-hybrid vehicles or Google in search
engines or Microsoft in operating systems or
apple in all their recent products; likewise in
this area, BMW has the opportunity to tackle
the targeted market and segment accordingly.
In finding the right marketing mix, it is not just
where you sell and to whom. The numbers you
sell also comes in to the equation. They have an
aim of selling 100,000 electric vehicles by 2020.
Considering the market niche theyre
addressing the target might sound just fine. But
recent data has shown otherwise. The waiting
lists for i8 have exceeded 10 months.

The reputation is already with the brand. The
niche market theyve targeted has a high buying
capacity. The BMW i8 is their most expensive
model up to now and still it has managed to
attract many customers without any trouble
with a starting price of 100,000 pounds in UK.
Just 49 g/km of CO
2
emission which qualifies the
BMW i8 for an exemption from Londons
congestion charge shows their approach to the
able high-end market with green-consciousness.
In a quite unusual way, this has been identified
as an important factor in purchasing i8. Buyers
have said we really dont want to pay
congestion charge which is nothing compared
with the price of the car. Hence it can be
identified that societal marketing concept is
optimized by BMW with the green-tag of the i-
series.
BMW i-series is becoming a success in electric
car market day by day. It will not be long you
see an i8 on your subway or probably in your
own garage here in Sri Lanka.
- Nipuna Lakmal Weerakkody




Reference

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/bmw-i-scale-up-electric-vehicle-market
[2] http://www.youtube.com
http://www.auto-types.com/autonews/bmw-i8-huge-success-on-uk-market-waiting-lists-exceed-10-
months-12003.html
http://evobsession.com/will-bmw-lineup-boost-bmws-market-share/
http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/i/i8/2014/showroom/index.html
http://www.academia.edu/4301292/Analysis_of_BMW_E-Marketing_Strategies
http://www.slideshare.net/ashishtomar3/bmw-marketing
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/ferdinand_porsche.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_electric_vehicle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_i



























http://www.auto-types.com/autonews/bmw-i8-huge-success-on-uk-market-waiting-lists-exceed-10-
months-12003.html
http://evobsession.com/will-bmw-lineup-boost-bmws-market-share/
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/bmw-i-scale-up-electric-vehicle-market

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/i/i8/2014/showroom/index.html