I hope Richard Steinberg wasn't misquoted when he told the the LA Times the ActiveE's lease price would be competitive with the Chevy Volt's $350 per month! After paying $800 per month the first year and then $600 per month the second year to lease the MINI-E, I wasn't too sure where BMW would set the lease price on the ActiveE. But I figured it would be in the $500-$600 area.
BMW had to understand that there are options now (Volt, LEAF) that were not there when the MINI-E program was launched. Back then, if you wanted to drive an electric car, you either spent $100,000 on a Tesla, built your own, or leased a MINI-E! They were the only game in town! Luckily, things have changed and there are options. There is still a vocal group of people blasting BMW for not selling the ActiveE, and electing to continue the testing programs for another two years before the i3 hit the showrooms.
BMW knows what they are doing and really wants the first EV they sell, to be a purpose built electric car designed from the ground up, not just another retrofitted ICE conversions, which is really what the MINI-E and ActiveE are. That being said, I'm sure they could sell they could sell the ActiveE if they offered it, as they could the MINI-E. Plenty of the MINI-E pioneers have expressed interest in buying the car, but that is not going to be an option. Instead when the US program ends this year the cars will be refurbished and delivered to other countries of the world to allow new markets to get a taste of electric cars in advance of them being offered for sale there.
