The market for electric vehicles continues to move quickly in 2025, whereby leasing trends and shifts of incentives in buyer behavior play a role as well as the cars themselves. While Tesla is still dominating the overall sale of EV, new data from Experian underlines an interesting history that is developing around the BMW I4. As soon as the i4 was not available in the top 10, it took sixth place in the second quarter of 2025. It is not only more remarkable how many I4S find entries, but how people go into them.
I4 purchases in the second quarter of 2025 at a glance
According to the data from Experian, the BMW i4 was the sixth-selling EV in Q2 2025. While nobody had a chance against Tesla – the Y model Y and the model 3 were still 24.02% or 18.45% of the market share – was a closer race between the remaining players on the field. The Chevy Equinox EV made up 4.78% of the EVS sold in the second quarter, while the Hyundai Ioniq took 5 3.57% home. The Mustang Mach-E hardly sold the i4 with 2.68% of the segment. As a reference, all three non-BMWs fell from the last quarter, while the i4 was not even among the top 10 in the last quarter.
Is much more interesting How People buy their EVs – especially the i4. People who take a BMW i4 home rental almost exclusively, 88.63% of customers who decide this. The second highest in the top 10 is the Honda prologue with a leasing rate of 83.83%. Compared to the top sellers, there is even more inequality. Over 70% of customers who take a Tesla model Y, finance or pay cash – only rent 29.79%. Around 58% of customers choose a model 3. The Mustang and Equinox -EVS are closer to 60% of the leasing rate, while 65% of the Ioniq 5 customers opt for the rental agreement. Interestingly, the Hyundai also has the highest number of buyers who pay cash – 21.26% of Ioniq 5 buyers do this.
Wilder is still that despite the extremely high rental agreement of the BMW i4 it is really a decline in the bucket. Model 3 and Model Y together make up 30.97% of all EV rental contracts that come during Q2 2025. The BMW? Only 3.76%. It paints a real picture of how much volume Tesla moves compared to the EV offers from BMW.
BMW i4 leasing or loan: What is the real difference?
In the last quarter, the average difference between a rental agreement and a loan payment in all electric vehicles was 175 US dollars. It remains exactly the same in Q2. And in fact, the BMW i4 itself is not trends. In the second quarter, the average rental payment was 672 USD per month for a new BMW i4, while the average loan payment was around $ 855 per month. That is a difference of $ 183. In the last quarter there was a difference of $ 182. The average rental agreement cost 684 USD per month and the average loan was 866 USD per month.
While the turnover of i4 rose compared to the rest of the segment, EVS took up a downturn in the second quarter. The market share of EVS decreased to 8.34%, which went a decline of 9.83% in the first quarter of 2025. Interestingly, hybrids enjoy an increase to almost 15% of the market share. We believe that the rental rates on the i4 are high for a few reasons: First, it is one of the more expensive options. Second, and above all, leasing is the only way to enjoy a tax credit of the 7,500 US dollars. At least for now. It will be interesting to see what Q3 brings for the BMW i4 because the US EV market continues its shock.
Source: Experian
