BMW confirmed that it plans to unveil the production version of its BMW iNext, an electric vehicle that the German automaker has previously described as its response to Tesla, next week.
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The UK’s Car magazine reports today that BMW will introduce a pure EV version of its M5 midsize performance vehicle. If the published specs are real, then BMW will offer a 1,006-horsepower beast of a midsize electric sedan with the next generation of the car.
Despite all the hype about high levels of vehicle autonomy, drivers always need to keep their hands on the wheel. Audi had planned to be the first automaker to introduce so-called Level 3 autonomy, where you could take your eyes off the road and let the car drive. But the combination of legislative uncertainty and a patchwork approach to the technology led the German automaker to give up self-driving plans for the next A8 due next year.
BMW is showing an iNEXT electric car prototype going through extreme heat tests ahead of the launch of the production version.
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While BMW has a few more EVs coming before the iNext electric crossover, the vehicle is expected to become BMW’s flagship.
The automaker has been talking about an insanely long range for the iNext, but it has apparently now revised it down.
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BMW is still a long way from starting production of its iNext, which it describes as its next-generation electric car, but it is already making a lot of progress toward production and it released new images of the iNext electric car pre-production prototype.
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BMW has released an image of the new large polygonal steering wheel in its upcoming iNEXT electric crossover, which the carmaker says is “perfect” for switching between highly automated and active driving.
We have often complained about BMW taking its sweet time to release its second electric vehicle since the BMW i3 back in 2013, but the German automaker is now bringing to market 3 all-electric vehicle programs at the same and today it revealed the latest prototypes in winter testing.
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A few months after unveiling the concept, BMW is now showing a new camouflaged prototype of its iNEXT, an upcoming electric crossover, as it’s doing its first round of winter tests ahead of its 2021 production launch.
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BMW has been teasing its iNEXT concept vehicle as the next generation electric vehicle that will guide the brand in its electrification plans.
The German automaker has now finally unveiled the concept iNEXT vehicle on which the 2021 production version will be based.
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BMW has been hyping its upcoming iNext electric car for years now as the next-generation electric vehicle that will even ‘compete with Tesla’s Model 3’.
Today, the German automaker teased the vehicle with design sketches ahead of next month’s unveiling.
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For over a year now already, BMW has been hyping its iNEXT electric car, which some BMW executives even framed as a ‘Tesla Model 3 competitor’.
Now they unveiled the first glimpse of the design concept for the vehicle.
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BMW has been complacent about all-electric vehicles since launching the i3 back in 2013.
Now it plans a second wave of all-electric vehicles and the company’s CEO confirmed today that they will be unveiled this year.
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BMW is promising a series of new all-electric cars starting next with the first all-electric Mini, but the most anticipated one is the 2021 iNext electric vehicle, which the German automaker has been positioning as a Tesla Model 3 competitor.
They are now hinting at a major range increase for the upcoming vehicle.
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The best way to know if a legacy automaker is getting serious about electric vehicles is to see if they are investing in converting their current manufacturing capacity to electric vehicle manufacturing capacity. We recently reported on Daimler and Volkswagen making the move in Germany and BMW now announces that it is following suit.
Today, the automaker confirmed that it will build the first fully electric MINI in 2019 and a fully electric BMW X3 in 2020 at its Leipzig plant, while the upcoming “fully electric BMW iNEXT” will be manufactured at the Dingolfing plant in 2021.
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Tesla has its fair share of naysayers who don’t think they can deliver the Model 3 at the $35,000 price point. BMW’s head of sales and marketing, Ian Robertson, joined those naysayers this week and cast some doubts on Tesla’s promises.
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Several German automakers held their annual shareholders meeting this week and just like during Daimler’s last month, the subject of competing with Tesla in the luxury segment with long-range electric vehicle came up. German premium automakers like Audi, BMW and Porsche are admittedly about 6 years behind Tesla with the first few 200+ miles range electric vehicles coming to market starting in 2018 – versus Tesla’s Model S which launched in 2012.
BMW took the occasion to clearly lay out its electric vehicle plan under its ‘i’ sub-brand. The company confirmed that it will launch the new electric and autonomous iNext model in 2021. The vehicle is based on the recently unveiled ‘NEXT 100’ concept – picture above.
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