BMW takes on Tesla with luxury electric car
Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian joins the Live show to discuss BMW’s new luxury electric car.
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: All right, switching gears literally, BMW is taking on Tesla with its latest luxury electric sedan. Joining us now is returning Yahoo Finance senior auto correspondent, Pras Subramanian. Pras, I will let you set this up. I have strong views on this new 7 Series. But what are they launching here?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: So Soz, it's the top of the line, top of the range for BMW, the 7 Series. Now they have the new i7 all-electric sedan amongst two other gas-powered versions. So the electric car, which everyone cares about-- 536 horsepower, two twin motors. 300 miles of range is pretty good. But I think it's about the inside that matters for these customers. It's people like to either be driven or drive them. So we got leather and--
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. Leather and cashmere in the back, Soz, right? You got all kinds of-- a sweeping digital screen across the front.
BRIAN SOZZI: [INAUDIBLE]
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I know. I know. A sweeping full-screen across the front, a glowing information bar across the entire dash.
BRIAN SOZZI: Why not? Why not?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: But I think the piece de resistance-- I know you like the French term, Soz-- is the BMW theater in the back that actually flips down a 31-inch screen-- there you have it--
BRIAN SOZZI: Oh, there it is.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: --with surround sound. When you turn it on, Soz, the window shades go up. It dims in the back. It plays a specific Hans-Zimmer-penned theme to bring it down, and then you can watch your-- it's powered by Amazon Fire TV. So if you want to really go for that oomph and oh wow factor of that nice drive experience, it's going to cost you around 120 grand starting though.
BRIAN SOZZI: When I pick up my electric 7 Series, Praz, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to get in that backseat. I'm going to order me some Wendy's, and I'm going to sit back there and watch Yahoo Finance Live from it.
But that brings me to my next point. This car only gets 300 mile range. If I am sitting in the back of the 7 Series, eating my Wendy's Baconator, let's be real. That's going to suck the battery. Maybe it goes down to 200 miles. And now I have to be back home, eating my Wendy's from home because the car is not going to move.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, it's a good point, Soz. Because the Tesla Model S and Mercedes EQS, two of the private competitors for this car, actually have higher range than this one does. But I got to tell you, BMW is taking a different kind of path here. They're going to actually make all their cars with an electric version plus a gas-powered version. And eventually with the Noya Class, that'll be an all-new electric car, versus EQS with Mercedes and of course Tesla, they're just going pure electric with those models. Mercedes-- BMW is trying to hedge their bets with a little bit of gas, a little bit of electric too.
BRIAN SOZZI: But no sound. We were talking about this in the newsroom. None of these cars have any sound. Don't they need a sound? They need a sound.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: We need a little, like, Journey or "Survivor" kind of thing.
BRIAN SOZZI: Right. Every time you accelerate, you play like the "Eye of the Tiger" by Rocky Balboa. All right, Pras Subramanian, good reporting. I will read you a story on Yahoo Finance.
