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The first production model of BMW’s new electric Neue Class will be a 3-series-like one. That car could easily be called the BMW i3 and it seems that the Germans even have a sporty M version in the pipeline.
In the database from the German Patent Office an interesting new model designation has surfaced: iM3. Of course, it was not Audi or Mercedes-Benz, but the equally German BMW that had that designation recorded. The ‘i’ for ‘M3’ in this case does of course not stand for ‘injection’, but for the i label under which BMW hangs its electric models.
BMW has a new electric model family in the pipeline that it calls the Neue Klasse. The first production model of the Neue Klasse will be an electric equivalent of the 3 Series. It could very well be that the car will be called i3. The electric alternatives of the 5 and 7 series are successively called i5 and i7. The sporty top version of the 3 Series is of course called M3 and the fact that BMW has recorded the designation ‘iM3’ may therefore indicate that that EV will also have a full-fledged M version.
For the time being, there are electric BMWs that the brand’s M department has been involved with, but those flavors are more comparable to M Performance variants – so sporty sub-toppers – such as the M340i. For example, the electric BMW i4 is available as the M50, the iX as the M60 and the i7 as the M70. It is of course possible that BMW has registered the designation ‘iM3’ as a precaution and simply has that combination in stock just to be on the safe side. It was previously revealed through the Australian Carsales that BMW is making the next generation M3 an electric model. This is how the puzzle pieces fall into place.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl