BMW i5 rendering inspired by patent leaks

Some alleged patent leaks appeared in the interwebs for the BMW i5 last week. Here is a new rendering inspired by those images. The rendering below is a four-door hatchback with subtle SUV elements and a raised driving position. A lot of the design elements come from the BMW i3 and i8. The influence of the i3 is evident in the rear, and the i8 shows in the front end.

Why would BMW want to create an electric i5 crossover? Well, there is a big market for SUVs and the trend is having electric cars.

Sources say that the underpinnings of the BMW i5 are known internally as FSAR. This stands for flat battery storage assembly, similar to the modular CLAR platform underpinning several new BMWs allowing multiple cars to be channeled through the same factory. FSAR and CLAR will also share different technologies, like faster 5G mobile chips which will help with BMW’s autonomous driving plans.

The BMW i5 is expected to have the latest and greatest technology advancements in telematics and autonomous driving. It’s expected, given the recent news of BMW’s broadening planned electric vehicle lineup, that the car will be a pure electric vehicle, rather than a range-extended EV like the i3, or a petrol-electric hybrid, like the i8.

The patent leaks make this car more probable, but nothing has been confirmed so far.

Photo source: IndianAutosBlog