Amazing vehicle. Very well engineered. Excellent specs. However,.. "The i3 is scheduled to go into production at the end of 2013 and is expected to have price in Europe starting at around €40,000 (US$51,000)." And there in lies the problem.
The demographic will not support it, especially in this economic decline environment. Small cars = small price 90% of that market Rich people = luxury cars, don't care about economy. 90% of that market
For the remaining percentages, Small expensive cars come in two categories. 1. Hot/performance hatchbacks 90%, and 2. environmental statement vehicles 10%. The few Holywood millionaires that would trade their Prius for this to make a statement about how much they care for the environment is no justification for a production run.
About the only way this kind of vehicle can make sense is if a large corporation (FedEx, government, etc) signed a contract to lease 10,000 for their employees. Or if the respective country's government were to heavily subsidize private leases/purchases as some kind of carbon trading scheme.
The good news is Electrics can be much more affordable, and as fuel prices go up, so will availability of electric conversion kits for average cars. Meanwhile, with fuel prices as they are, the market will be rife with overpriced token electrics from every badge.

isn't it called "cradle to cradle"? "cradle to grave" is what we have now: producing and throw away. 100% recycling is what we want to achieve.

Its great to see BMW taking both electric vehicles and the 'cradle-to-cradle' concept seriously and I hope other OEM's follow suit. Yes, it is expensive as has been noted but then all innovative technologies are (my first mobile phone was approx $4,000 in 1990, approx $10,000 at today's prices!!) and the price will follow the usual curve. City councils around the world are providing free parking and charging for electric vehicles and it will not be long before petrol/diesels are banned from some central city areas. The initial high costs are a filip for car-sharing and pooling and are ushering in a new era of both formal and informal shared-ownership, short-term rental and other non-ownership schemes especially appealing to the young and those for whom a car is about transport and NOT status. The future has already arrived, and its electric!

I think it is way cool. I really like the design. If the price was lower, I would consider it for a future vehicle choice.
It does not seem all that different from what BMW did with the Mini Cooper, it is really nice but the price is on the high side.

BMW have almost cracked it - electric car for the masses? Oh dear, what's that? $50,000 you say? Ok, maybe I'll give it a miss and go buy a $10,000 Kia tin box.

Now this gets my interest. Quality and construction equal to modern aircraft. I would like to have seen more specs on the Range Extender, weight, passenger space, luggage storage size but all that is probably available elsewhere. I drive a Chevy Volt and have 45-40 electric miles available every day. That is almost always enough. I burned 1 quart of fuel last month for 744 mpg, TXU electricity is free 10pm-6am. The 2 gas burners stay parked most of the time. I prefer PHEV for now so that my range is unlimited but this BMW looks great and I will consider it for my next car/

I notice there is nothing about recycling the batteries after they fully wear out just reusing the ones that are worn beyond usefulness in a car.
Even with the subsidy that reduces the price to US$51,000 when you add financing costs and the effects of inflation it won't save enough on 'fuel' to offset the high price. Although the general revenue taxes on fuel in Europe change how this looks the governments are not going to give up the revenue stream and the taxes will just be applied elsewhere.
If the time energy and money had been put into producing a constant power high-output high-efficiency emission controlled sub-50cc engine with a less costly energy recovery system such as flywheel or pneumatic you would have a car that's price matches what its target costumers can pay without subsidies while reducing energy consumption more overall.

Slowburn: Financing should not be a problem for the fiscally wise, e.g., if you can't pay cash, you can't afford it.
I can afford the price but wouldn't buy it. I don't buy luxury cars either, and for the same reason: The value is not there, i.e., I won't pay 80% more for 10% more car. And the i3 is not even sexy like the i8. (For sexy I will pay a little more.)
BMW is out front with this unique commitment to lightweight materials. Next they need to focus on aerodynamics. The trifecta would be using the latest techs such as "motor in wheel", drive by wire, and low resistance tires. I would break down and pay more for all that.

Here goes 'Slowburn' again - always carping. Sub-50cc engine? Try hooking your whipper-snipper motor to a generating set and see what output you get! Most motor-in-wheel ideas so far have failed from excess unsprung weight. Drive by wire is meaningless, virtually all today's modern drivetrain/control circuits is drive by wire. Tyres?, any manufacturer will not deliberately use poor mileage tyres in today's climate and economy.

re; The Skud
Do you really believe that getting 25hp out of a 40cc is impossible? The engine will be heavy for its rated power because it runs at the rated power constantly. It would also be diesel in operation if not fuel because of the high boost and compression. Purpose built for pneumatic drive it would also be crankless.
The car normally operates on stored power and is not intended for long distant highway travel; it would however be better at it than these battery powered things.