BMW i3 LWB and i8 Roadster planned; BMW i4 & i5 mooted

BMW are already planning more of the BMW-i Range

It’s reported that BMW are planning on a BMW i3 with a longer wheelbases, a roadster version of the i8 and two new i-cars – the BMW i4 and BMW i5.

You didn’t really think that BMW would stop with just the BMW i3 City car and the BMW i8 supercar, did you? Surely not, especially after we told you last year that BMW had trademarked all the i-numbers – i1 through to i9.

Those BMW i trademarks would suggest that BMW are planning on having at least a pair of cars that sit below the compact i3 – a bit hard to really figure out what they will be – and perhaps a halo grand saloon at the top in the i9. And we are starting to hear about the next move up from the i3 – the BMW i4 and i5.

The i4 is said to be a sporty version of the i3, which makes sense. We already know that BMW are filling in the gaps in the nomenclature of their regular range by making the ‘Even’ number BMWs the ‘Sporty’ option – coupes and cabriolets.

So the BMW 2 series will be the sporty version of the 1-Series, the 4-series the sporty version of the 3-Series and so on. So the i4 as the sporty i3 is entirely logical.

Also in the mix is the BMW i5. This is said to be a proper-sized four-door eco-Beemer with a variation on the powertrain from the i8; a grown-up i3, if you like. Which of course leaves the obvious route of the i6 being a sporty coupe version of the i5. Looks like a plan.

And talking of plans, it seems there are moves to stretch the BMW i3 to make it more commodious in the back (which we don’t find entirely logical, unless we’re back to the Chinese fetish for LWB cars – even City Cars) and to chop the top of the i8 to give us a BMW i8 Roadster. Which is entirely logical.

That leaves us with the i1 and i2 which we co far have no real idea about, and the i7 – which could be some sort of eco-SUV.

Don’t expect much of this very soon. But do expect all of it – and more – at some point.