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A preview of what we believe will be the third model from BMW’s ‘i' brand, which focuses on electrification of the car. We already have the all-electric i3 (ok, there’s one with a petrol generator on board too) and the slinky two-door i8 hybrid sports car, so the i5 is expected to sit between them in price and positioning. We reckon it will be based on the BMW i Vision Dynamics concept revealed at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, which took the form of a four-door fastback that aims to be sporty to drive and look at.
What will its rivals be?
At this stage it’s difficult to know where the BMW i5 will be pitched in terms of pricing, but you can be full sure that Audi and Mercedes, BMW’s biggest rivals, are working on similarly sized and targeted cars. Audi has its e-tron brand to work with, so perhaps there’s an A5 e-tron in the works, while Mercedes is close to launching its new line-up of ‘EQ’ electric models. As it stands, assuming the i5 is purely electric, the only potential rival already on sale (in some parts of the world, anyway) is the Tesla Model 3.
Any tech info?
A little guesswork is needed here, as BMW hasn’t even officially confirmed the existence of the i5, but it should employ carbon fibre construction to keep weight down for a start, just like the i3 and i8 before it. The concept car’s powertrain was not detailed by BMW, but it did mention a range of 600 kilometres, a top speed of over 200km/h and a 0-100km/h sprint of just four seconds. We hope it will be rear-wheel drive to keep that stereotypical BMW driving feel.
What will the range be like?
It’s unlikely there will be a wide range of models in the i5 range, going by the i3 and i8 line-ups, though there could be a faster ‘i5s’ version and maybe one with a range-extending generator on-board too. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Expectations?
Going by the concept car, we expect BMW to come up with a sporty looking electric car that is great fun to drive and mixes reasonable practicality with impressive performance. It won’t be cheap to buy though, that’s for sure.