It’s easy to forget that BMW builds EVs. Blame it on the unending variants they feel obliged to push (“it comes as a sedan, or as a coupe, or as a grand coupe, or as a ….”), or the sheer dominance of their sports sedan lineup, but the Bavarian-based company is still strongly associated with gas and diesel engines.
Yet the i3’s been on the market for close to a decade now. Launched in 2012, the… weird little bubbly subcompact is a lithium-ion powered hatchback good for 184 hp from the larger of two electric motors. Sure, a gas engine is available as a range-extender, but that’s a fact that as easy to forget as everything else about this car is.
Much more noticeable, however, is the i8. While not a true EV, as it’s actually a hybrid, it can be charged through a plug. It also looks like a sports car, unlike the stunted droid that is the i3. The two electric motors and single, 1.5L gas engine combine for a respectable, if not impressive, 369 hp. Looking like what the 1990s thought the 2020s would look like, it manages 0-60 mph in 4.1 seconds.
Still, with five years of sales under its belt, it still hasn’t had a major impact. In the meantime, the Model S has been eating BMW’s lunch.
The BMW i4 Will Be a 530 HP, AWD M3 Alternative
It’ll be interesting to see, then, how the recently announced BMW i4 will do. Available for 2021, the dual motored BEV promises, at least in one variant, an output of 530 hp. Rumored to be AWD, it promises to be an alternative to the M3, if not an outright Tesla-killer.
0-60 time still seems to be around 4 seconds, which, as crazy as it is to say, seems a little slow for a true BEV sports sedan. However, that’s not to say that BMW won’t offer a more performance-oriented version further down the road.
One thing that’s for certain is that BMW could stand to have this be a success. Despite the continued strength of their brand, they’ve been struggling with a convoluted lineup, constant management changes, and a failure to keep pace with the innovations of Tesla, Porsche, and others.
Will the i4 be the winner they need? We’ll see in a year’s time.