[throwsprtsdy]

> But, while technically innovative, with a carbon-fiber body, the i3 is essentially a very expensive hatchback.

Yep. When people buy high performance or luxury cars, part of the mystique is that it is the latest evolution of some sort of classic. It's going to be hard for BMW et al to position electric vehicles as belonging to any existing lineage. This puts their brand at risk unless they can figure out how to make a remarkable electric car. But nobody really knows what that would be.

[bch]

This is storytelling on the part of the automakers, so let me propose 2:

1) Porsche’s got 120 years of work since their first electric car [0]

2) I remember pulling the leg of some Tesla fans a long while ago (maybe when the first roadster came out) about how the “no radiator, front trunk, smooth underbody” sounded a lot like the air-cooled VWs we’ve all been enjoying since the 1930s.

The manufacturers will find a way...

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohner-Porsche

[jacobush]

Porsche already tries hard with "Turbo":

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/04/cars/porsche-taycan-elect...

[tonyedgecombe]

They will just put a badge on it. I remember there was a survey of BMW owners a few years ago, most of the respondents didn't know their car was rear wheel drive.