FUTURE MODELS
Battle starts to fill the gap on Next frontier
Electric and autonomous BMWs are coming, but internal combustion is here to stay, writes Michael Taylor
Last week we revealed the details of BMW’s new strategy, but the big question is what products the Bavarian car maker will bring to the market to achieve it. There is no argument that there has long been an obvious gap in the brand’s product line-up. While BMW has filled every conceivable niche with its core brand and has gone the other way with Mini, trimming unloved models from its line-up, it’s the electric i-brand that has the biggest hole. Battle lines It has soldiered on with the groundbreaking i3 and the plug-in hybrid i8, though it has only looked on from the sidelines as Tesla’s 5 Series-sized Model S stole headlines and Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar promised to redraw the battery-electric vehicle (BEV) car battle lines. That’s going to change in 2021, when BMW’s i-brand will launch the iNext, although insiders insist it will be called the i5, and will deliver full Level 4 autonomous capability. It will also mimic the 5 Series family by being built with a range of...
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