The 2027 BMW i3 was unveiled this week as an all-new electric sedan and the lineup is set to expand not only with additional powertrains but also a different body style.
BMW showed a dodgy teaser of one i3 Touring However, sources say the car will be unveiled at the global unveiling of the i3 sedan Autocar There will be no direct replacement for the existing one i4.
Following on from the existing combustion engine 3 and 4 Series, the i4 is a battery-powered five-door midsize liftback rather than a four-door sedan like the new i3. However, since i3 and i4 occupy the same segment, the older nameplate is discontinued.
Autocar Sources have reportedly revealed that i4 production in Munich will cease next year. At some point the i3 Touring will go into production at the same factory.
The shadowy teasers show a sleek wagon silhouette with similar taillights to the i3 sedan.
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With its introduction, BMW will receive two electric station wagons, with the i3 Touring slotting in below the i5 Touring.
“If you look back over the last 20 years, new models have always come onto the market and old models have been phased out,” said BMW Group product boss Jochen Goller Autocar on the departure of the i4.
“I think that’s part of the history of our industry. And what you’ll always see is the number of existing cars, in this case the i4, being phased out and then (the new i3) increasing significantly. But as with any model, that was already taken into account in our planning.”
While the current i4 is phased out, Autocar BMW is reportedly working on a new 4 Series that will offer both combustion and electric powertrains, so the i4 will live on in spirit.
It’s unclear whether the full range of current 4 Series body styles will continue to be offered, which includes two-door coupe and convertible options as well as the five-door liftback Gran Coupe on which the i4 is based.
Mr Goller told the British publication that BMW’s strategy is to offer each of its models with a mix of powertrains and the same design, regardless of the powertrain.
The current 3 Series with a combustion engine, for example, will receive such an extensive update that it will be “basically a new car,” explained BMW engineers Autocar.
This means that BMW will offer combustion engine vehicles that are designed similarly to its new Neue Klasse electric vehicles. The company is already pursuing a similar strategy with the Mini brand, where the versions of the Cooper hatch with an internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric versions are virtually indistinguishable despite different platforms.
Mini’s Countryman also looks essentially the same in ICE or EV form, although both ride on the same platform. This is similar to many of BMW’s existing electric vehicles, including the previous generation iX3, which shared its platform with the ICE X3 and had only minor aesthetic differences.
The new i3 shares the new class platform with the new mid-range SUV iX3 and was initially introduced in the 50 xDrive version with dual-motor all-wheel drive and 345 kW of power and 645 Nm of torque.
While BMW hasn’t provided any information on battery capacity or chemistry for the i3, the iX3 50 xDrive – which is based on the same Neue Klasse EV platform and features the same dual-motor powertrain with the same outputs – uses a 108 kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery.
The i3 will join the iX3, which goes on sale here later this year. The sedan’s slimmer shape has resulted in a range increase of 95 km over its SUV sibling and a WLTP range of up to 900 km.
The electric sedan features an 800V electric architecture and a battery that can be charged with up to 400kW of DC power, providing a range of up to 400km in a claimed 10 minutes, and up to 22kW of AC power.
It also features bi-directional charging with Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), Vehicle-to-Home (V2H), and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) capabilities; Local details of this feature will be announced “in due course,” BMW Australia says.
MORE: Discover the BMW i3 showroom
MORE: Discover the BMW i4 showroom
