BMW can call itself one of the absolute pioneers in the field of electric driving. With the i3, the brand from Bavaria, far ahead of direct competition, brought electric driving to people. That was in the previous decade. Now is the period in which electric driving should become the norm. The brand new i4 should play an important role in this.
Ten years ago, the i3 kicked off and the i8 followed quickly. Meanwhile, the i8 is out of circulation and the i3 is undoubtedly no longer long-lived. Now, however, the i4 heralds a completely new phase for BMW. That car gets the latest technology on board, taking electric BMW driving to a new level.
The i4 will likely differ little from the Concept i4 unveiled in early March. That’s good news for those who were positively surprised by this Gran Coupé. BMW therefore chooses to expand its electric portfolio with a sleek and sporty looking four-door, with which it clearly points the arrows at cars such as the Tesla Model S and the upcoming Audi E-tron GT. Electric driving in combination with luxury and a sporty appearance; the i4 does not become EV for the masses. However, Tesla has been proving for many years that there is a lot of market for this, so the BMW will certainly do well.
With the i4, BMW is completely in line with the current trend, in which electric cars no longer have to have a very alternative appearance. Of course, there are still things that distinguish the i4 from, for example, the 4-series, such as the blue i-accents and here and there the well-known sharp folds that caught the eye on the i3 and i8. Still, in general, it’s just a lot less quirky than before. The strikingly large grille, which in principle does not really serve a purpose on an EV, according to some BMW might have been better off. That is of course a matter of taste. With the hefty “kidneys”, the i4 will soon fit well with many other BMW models. The upcoming 4-series is the clearest example of this.
At the end of next year, it will be the i4’s turn to prove itself on the EV market. In terms of technology, BMW is certainly well-prepared. After all, the i4 Concept had an 80 kWh battery pack on board, which should allow a range of up to 600 kilometers (WLTP). The conservative expectation is that the production version will not deviate much from that. Also in terms of performance, the i4 will not disappoint; more than 500 electric horsepower shoot the i4 in about 4 seconds from a standstill to 100 km / h. Who can still claim that electric driving can not be fun?
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The BMW i4 is certainly not the only BMW to wear the i-label as soon as the i8 and later the i3 have been definitively discontinued. In fact, a new all-electric BMW will be released this year, even before the i4. The iX3 comes on the market and of course it follows a slightly different recipe than the i3, i4 and i8. The iX3 was not developed as an EV from the ground up, but an electrically powered version of the X3. There are some subtle external differences, but the iX3 will have to distinguish itself from the regular X3 in terms of technology.
A car that is more in line with the i4 is the iNext. Just like the i4, that will be an exclusive electrically powered model. The iNext is somewhere between a high station wagon and an SUV and in terms of size, the iNext is located in the X5 regions. Technically, this should become the flagship of BMW’s i-line. The iNext, like the i4, will arrive in 2021.