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As AutoExpress reports, BMW is persistent in their plans to create a competitor for Tesla by the year 2021. Could it be the BMW i5?
According to their report, we’ll see both the i5 and iNext in 2021 “with a level of autonomous tech that’s never been seen before.” The rendering you see shows the imagined BMW i5 based on the Vision NEXT 100 Concept which was unveiled last year.
Ian Robertson, BMW’s board member, said:
Having recently had the final design review, you can assume that it’s a bigger car rather than a smaller one, and you can assume that the packaging for the next generation of batteries has to be accommodated in such a way that gives the car a certain proportion.
With the i products, we’ve established a few new icons, so we’re bringing these forward. You’ll see this as an i product from BMW, without seeing that it’s the iNext.
He continued the explanation:
That’s always a telling sign for me in design reviews – that we can see that it’s a BMW. The proportions, the short overhangs are BMW positioning; you’ll see that in the iNext. I think the iNext phase will have much stronger volume proportions behind it. If the next generation of batteries are smaller, thinner and with no wet and sticky stuff inside them – they’re solid state – then they can be packaged much easier.
In order to be a proper counterpart for Tesla, BMW will include a Level 3 autonomous tech in the new i5. The car should eventually support Level 4 and 5 autonomous driving.
