BMW i3 – Suddenly disappeared

With the electric car revolution in full swing, the development of new car models is faster than ever. The range increases greatly, they charge faster and get more equipment. Cars that were popular best sellers just two or three years ago have suddenly become unattractive.

BMW i3, Hyundai Ioniq and Renault Zoe are typical examples. One day they are fighting at the top, a few days later customers are running after new, more modern competitors.

What happened to these three, and what happened to the Toyota Prius, the car that put all the world’s car factories on the hybrid drive?

We’ve picked out five cars that disappeared in 2022, and we’re trying to explain why they’re gone and whether the factory has a replacement in the works.

BMW i3

Until recently, the BMW i3 has been a popular electric car among Norwegian customers. When it came on the market in autumn 2013, this was one of the first cars to be built from scratch as a pure electric car. It had light materials such as aluminum, carbon fiber and plastic and special easy-rolling wheels.

Thus it was also an expensive car to build and, in addition, rather impractical for more than two people. BMW has probably never made much money on the i3.

So now it’s over.

Compared to the new competitors, the range is too short in relation to the price. So far, BMW has not launched a successor, and the iX SUV, which costs well over NOK 500,000, is the most affordable electric car you can buy from the German manufacturer today.

Charge quickly and affordably

Hyundai Ioniq Electric

Norwegian car buyers queued up when Hyundai launched its first electric car, the Ioniq, in autumn 2016. This was suddenly an electric car (also hybrid and plug-in hybrid, but they did not become popular in Norway) with plenty of space, good range at a reasonable price.

In addition, it turned out that Hyundai had technology that gave better performance than the competitors, also when it came to range on winter roads.

It was named Car of the Year in Norway in 2017.

However, time has passed a little from this car as well, at the same time that Hyundai has launched new models such as the Kona Electric, Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6. Now it is cars that have been built from scratch as pure electric cars that apply.

Renault Zoe

Now comes the bang

When Renault launched the Zoe in Norway in 2012, it got off to a slow start. This is partly because it could not be charged at home – something several retailers “forgot” to tell customers.

Eventually this was rectified and the Zoe became a cheap and popular car in Norway. For periods it was one of the best-selling electric cars here at home.

A crash test by EuroNCAP last year, where the car was awarded zero out of five stars, showed that time had passed on Zoe. It did not have the safety equipment that the modern competitors have. Last summer, the last Zoe was delivered to customers in Norway.

Next year, Renault will bring a compact electric car with clear features from the 70’s successful model 5.

VW e-up and Skoda Citigo

This is the story of a small car with a petrol engine which in 2013 also got an electric drive. It had two siblings, the Skoda Citigo IV and the Seat Mii, and together they became the electric cars for those who only needed a small city car with a relatively short range of 16 miles. In 2019, an upgraded version came with a range of 25 miles.

Now it’s thank you and goodbye to these three small electric cars. All three factories in the VW group are working on developing new electric small cars.

no date for the launch has been set, but we are probably talking about 2024-2025. The factories are in no rush to make these small, affordable cars, because here the margins for earnings are small, while the technology, including the batteries, is expensive.

Toyota Prius

At first, competitors said that the hybrid technology that Toyota had developed for its Prius model would only be a one-day fly-by. In recent years, almost all car manufacturers have adopted hybrid technology, which combines the petrol engine with an electric motor. Now the fifth generation Prius is just around the corner, but it will not come to Norway. Information manager at Toyota Norway, Espen Olsen, explains why:

– The new Prius will only come to Europe as a plug-in hybrid. This is happening at the same time that the Norwegian authorities are cutting the tax advantage that rechargeable hybrids have had from New Year. This means that the new Prius will simply be too expensive, says Olsen.

So it’s over and done with for the car that set the world on the hybrid drive.