Don't Even Leave Your Browser To Buy A BMW i3

You can buy just about everything off of the internet nowadays, with more being added to that list every day. But now you can even get a BMW i3 while you’re browsing too - as long as you're in Japan, that is. 

Fancy that, Amazon’s Japanese site has available for purchase a full i3 through BMW Japan. Oh isn't the 21st century astounding. This definitely blurs the line between the convenience of one-click ordering and the usual hurdles involved in buying a car.

The i3, even if it’s available online, is far from an impulse purchase. On the site, Amazon lists it with the accompanying price tag of 990,000 Yen, which equates to roughly RM30,000. However, this is merely the deposit for the vehicle. The monthly repayment comes to approximately RM2890 over a loan period of 5 years (or 60 months), bringing the total cost of the i3 to around RM203,500.

That’s a considerable sum keeping in mind that it’s very much a city car, albeit one of the most technologically advanced ever produced. A fully electric vehicle that features the ability to be charged from a wall outlet, made through a next-generation construction process using high-strength carbon fibre reinforced resin (CFRP), a 130kW electric motor, and an 18.8 kWh lithium-ion battery.

The model advertised on Amazon is equipped with the range extender (REx) option that uses a 647cc two-cylinder gasoline engine sourced from the BMW C650 GT motorcycle that engages only when the battery charge level drops past a certain point to, you guessed it, generate additional energy for the batteries, thereby extending the i3’s range to about 320km.

We’re not sure how fast this trend of buying our cars online will catch on (if at all), but it sure is an interesting idea. If you think about it, there’s really no reason why we don’t buy cars over the internet the way we’re able to with so many other products out there already. Maybe its just a matter of time.