(February 21, 2011) MUNICH — The new BMW sub-brand focused on developing sustainable mobility solutions has been launched.

BMW will launch its planned megacity vehicle under the new sub-brand "i" and it is setting up a venture-capital business for up to $100 million to ramp up mobility services such as car sharing or smart navigation systems, the German luxury-car maker said Monday.

"BMW i stands for a new form of premium mobility," BMW sales chief Ian Robertson said in a statement. “With the introduction of this new sub-brand, the BMW Group reaffirms its leadership as the most innovative and sustainable premium car company."

The company will launch two new vehicles under the new sub-brand, the BMW i3 and the BMW i8, with both cars to be launched in 2013 and built at BMW's German plant in Leipzig. The i3 will be a purely electric-powered car for urban areas.

BMW sketches of i3 and i8

The i8 will be based on the plug-in hybrid sportscar concept BMW Vision EfficientDynamics. 

“With BMW i, we are building on the success and strength of our core brand,” emphasised Robertson. The BMW i3 —  previously known as the Megacity Vehicle — will be the BMW Group’s first series-produced car for urban areas to be driven by electric power alone. The BMW i8, meanwhile, is based on the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept study. Its plug-in hybrid drive blends the sporting ability of a high-performance machine with the fuel consumption and emissions of a small car.

Both models are based on a construction concept known as LifeDrive architecture. An aluminium chassis houses the powertrain, and the passenger cell consists of high-strength but extremely lightweight carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP).

“Both cars have been designed specifically for their respective alternative drive systems. We used the innovative architecture and CFRP to cancel out practically all of the extra weight added by the batteries. For our customers this means superior driving dynamics combined with significantly increased range using electric power,” explains Klaus Draeger, BMW Board member responsible for development.