Dozens of BMW i3s have been found abandoned on Korea’s Jeju Island in what makes for a rather bizarre scene.
It is understood that initially, 70 i3s were left in a grassy field on the remote resort island after the rental car company that owned them went bankrupt in 2020. Korea Times reports that the rental company had purchased 200 i3s through a monthly installment plan and after receiving government subsidies.
When the company went bust, the i3s were dumped. As it turns out, they weren’t just dumped in a single grass field either.
It is understood that BMW Korea had received approval to purchase the cars in mid-2021 but evidently, many of them remain parked up and left to rot. This YouTube clip takes us on a tour of some of the locations where the i3s have been dumped across the island and while some of them appear to be in good condition, many of them are missing parts.
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The video starts out by showing dozens of i3s that have been parked on a field near an urban area. A couple of them are missing large pieces of bodywork, including their rear hatches, front bumpers, and hoods. At least one is missing a door, leaving it exposed to the elements. A common sight across all of the i3s is bubbling in the window tint.
The YouTuber then walks over to a nearby bus station where six other i3s are found, one of which is also missing a door. A separate number of i3s is later found at a parking lot in the heart of the island.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for these electric BMWs. While BMW Korea apparently received court approval to purchase them, doing so certainly won’t be cheap, and transporting them off Jeju Island could also prove to be quite expensive.