BMW to add electric sedan to its ‘i’ brand
BMW will add a low-slung electric sedan to its stalled “i” subbrand, part of plans to accelerate the rollout of battery-powered cars to counter Tesla.
The four- door model, kept under wraps as BMW showed journalists around its Munich design headquarters on Thursday, is set to go on sale by 2021 and will slot in between the squat i3 city car and the sleek i8 plug-in sports car. BMW declined to specify its name.
Overall, BMW plans to offer at least 12 fully electric vehicles by 2025, including battery-powered variants of mainstream models like the X3 SUV as well as the futuristic self-driving iNext. New technology is facilitating the revival of the “i” sub-brand, which hasn’t been assigned a new car since the i8 in 2014. BMW is predicting that next-generation batteries will allow driving ranges as far as 435 miles.
“We wanted to have a sufficient range that’s coming with the next technology jump,” Chief Executive Officer Harald Krueger said at the event, an early showcase of BMW’s plans for the Frankfurt motor show next week. For the green-car sub-brand, “there wasn’t a big gap. We planned it.”
BMW, which lost the global luxury-car sales crown to Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz last year, is looking to claw back its leadership role in the segment. That includes being more aggressive with new technology, especially electric systems as European environmental rules tighten in 2020. The extent of BMW’s plans are similar to what’s in store at Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler, which has set up the EQ sub-brand and plans a lineup of 10 battery-powered vehicles through 2022.
Industry pioneer Tesla, which started initial deliveries of the mass-market Model 3 sedan in July, is pushing automakers to respond with more attractive lineups of electric cars.
B M W ’s p r e s e n t a t i o n a l s o included an electric prototype of its Mini car that’s slated to go on sale next year. The company’s focus on battery-powered variants of existing models differs from Mercedes’s plan for standalone electric cars.