During a recent conference call, BMW CFO Frederich Eichiner said “currently there are 8000-9000 pre-orders” for the BMW i3. That is ahead of BMW opening orders for the US, which, according to Jacob Harob, Head of Electric Vehicle Operations at BMW USA, says will happen later this month. “We’ll take orders in November and deliveries will start in the Spring” for the US.

The first BMW i3 rolls off the  assembly line in Leipzig, Germany, on November 16th, but BMW is now reporting long back-order waiting times.

In a report filed by kfz-betrieb, Mr. Eichner says that “If you order an i3 today, have to wait for the delivery of up to five months. The delivery times would roughly correspond to the times attractive models with internal combustion engine.”