Global Crisis

The BMW i3 Year One Celebration in underway across America with various dealerships hosting events, and local owners getting together to celebrate the one year anniversary of the launch of the i3 in the US.

JMK BMW in Springfield, NJ had a good showing

The idea for the Anniversary Event began with a conversation back in February between a few i3 owners in the BMW i3 Facebook group. Roman Vazquez actually was the one who first thought of having an official nationwide i3 anniversary celebration. At first the thought was that we'd pick a day and coordinate local meets for i3 owners to get together. We've done similar meets like this before, where we get together in a parking lot somewhere, but Roman thought meeting at a dealership might be interesting. The idea quickly expanded to, "How about we try to get dealerships across the country to host an event?"

Crevier BMW in Southern California had the largest turnout with over 200 people in attendance! Photo credit to Harry Lin

BMW supplied pins

We knew we couldn't coordinate something that large ourselves, so I reached out to BMW i Marketing Manager, Joan Bowen, and asked if BMW would be willing to help us get this off the ground. She loved the idea and simply asked, "What can we do to help?" So BMW created the event logo, contacted their dealer network informing them of the event (of which participation was optional) and created some swag (T-shirts, pins & stickers) which they would send to participating dealers to give out during the day.

Some dealerships took it one step further and gave away prizes. Two dealerships that I'm aware of that really put extra effort into the event were JMK BMW in New Jersey and Crevier BMW in Southern California. Both dealerships raffled off a free JuiceBox Pro 40 EVSE (Crevier also raffled off other prizes including a JLong charging extension cable), offered catering for the attendees and did their best to make the day special for the i3 owners. 


The official anniversary event lasts for the remainder of the month of May, but the majority of events happened on May 9th, which was the day we originally planned, before BMW joined in to help us get more dealerships involved. It was really nice to get together with other i3 owners, swap stories and EVangelize a bit. There's already talk of formally making this an annual event and I think that would be a great idea. We put this year's gatherings together on short notice and without many of the dealerships participating. It was a lot of fun and I think we're on to something here, so watch out for next May!

No local participating dealership? No problem! Just meet somewhere on the street or in a parking lot like these i3 owners in Virginia did. Photo courtesy of  Reony Tonneyck

Photo: George Betek

One thing I'm particularly happy to see, is BMW's willingness to participate in events like these. They didn't hesitate to say they thought it was a great idea and then asked how they could help. It's important that the manufacturers continue to offer strong support for their plug-in offerings. It's not enough just to make the cars. A successful plug-in vehicle program needs the support of the manufacturer with a healthy marketing budget, and continues with community outreach, like these kinds of events offer. The EV market in still in its infancy, and if a manufacturer is really serious about being a market leader in this space, then these kinds of events are a great way to build consumer confidence in the brand. 

Ariel view of Crevier during the celebration. Photo courtesy of Roman Vasquez

A special thanks goes out to Roman Vazquez, Heather Somaini, Kris Kluzak, George Betak, Shawn Wooten, Wilfred Fojas, Manny Antunes, Dave Avery, Peder Norby, John Higham, David Vottero and Brandon Watson. All of whom put a lot of time and effort behind the scenes to make the i3's first birthday party a memorable event.

What kind of a party would it be without a parade? Photo courtesy of Jamie Dow

BMW made these T-Shirts for the event and provided them to the participating dealer

Jacob Harb (left) pictured with Oliver Walter of BMW at the LA Auto Show in 2012

I've just learned that Jacob Harb is no longer the Manager of Electric Vehicles for BMW of North America. Harb has held the position for a little over two years since the position was vacated by Richard Steinberg, who left the post in August of 2012 to assume the position of CEO of BMW's new car sharing program DriveNow.

This is a bit surprising since I just talked with Jacob at the LA Auto Show a couple weeks ago where we discussed upcoming plans for BMW i. BMW hasn't announced who Harb's successor will be yet, but being close to BMW's e-mobility program I'd like to throw a couple names out there that they'll likely consider:

1) Jose Guerrero. Jose is the i3 Product Manager for North America. He knows as much about the i3 & i8 and anybody at BMW and is good in front of a camera, which is important for department heads who need to be available for interviews. 

2) Joan Bowen. Joan is BMW's EV and i Brand Marketing Manager and has been in the BMW's EV program since 2011. She may be a long shot because her expertise is in marketing but I wouldn't rule her out.

3) Rob Healey. Rob is BMW's Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Manager and was previously the technical coordinator for the MINI-E and ActiveE. Rob has been involved in BMW's e-mobility program since 2008 and knows the technical side of the business as well as anybody working for any EV manufacturer. 

4) Don Smith. Don is the BMW i Electric Vehicle Operations and Strategy manager and has been working closely with Harb for a while now. Don may have the easiest transition into the position as anybody there because he has been working directly with Harb. 

Honestly, I'd feel OK with any of the above mentioned people. I've had the opportunity to meet them all on many occasions and I know they are all very capable executives. I just hope BMW selects someone with extensive electric vehicle program experience. These cars are different, they require different strategies for marketing, sales and aftersales. It's too late in the game to start over with another top manager who doesn't have experience specific to electric cars. BMW needs a strong leader for BMW i and I really hope they choose wisely.

Once I get confirmation on the new (or interim) department head, I'll report it here.