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Not even a decade ago BMW was still paying fines to the US EPA for missing cafe fuel efficiency targets and selling 500 HP X-series SUVs, while GM, Toyota and Honda were developing and marketing hybrids. BMW is so far behind the curve of EV development, even Hyundai has marketed a few pretty decent hybrids.
The i3 IMO was an engineering exercise rather than a full fledged new car line. The REX version is a joke compared to the Volt (and they are both of the same generation). The GM Bolt is leagues ahead of the i3 BEV and they are only 3 years separated in model years if that. Scale up the i3 to a 60kWh battery like the Bolt has and it would be just 200 pounds lighter yet 10 cubic feet smaller in passenger compartment size and would get less range than a Bolt.
The i8 stands on its own if looked at with the hybrid performance cars from the exotics though it is out performed, but it is a lower-priced vehicle.
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A manual transmission can be set to "comfort", "sport", and "track" modes simply by the technique and speed at which you shift it; it doesn't need "modes", modes are for manumatics that try to behave like a real 3-pedal manual transmission. If you can money-shift it, it's a manual transmission. "Yeah, but NO ONE puts an automatic trans shift knob on a manual transmission."
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