To understand that it is difficult to come up with names for electric models, just take a look at the catalogs of the German Three. At Mercedes, for example, they shot themselves in the foot by launching an SUV in the form of the EQC and later a couple of sedans called EQE and EQS, which suddenly forced them to do strange things for the SUV variants of the latter. At Audi, they are tired of all that e-tron and are considering just giving everything on power an even figure. BMW has its own problems, because after an i3 that is not an electric 3 Series and an i4 that is an electric 4 Series, they came out with an iX that just didn’t get a grade. High time for some clarity.
Back to the roots
BMW has filed a patent application in which the rights to no less than 48 new names are recorded. The majority must refer to electric models, which shows that the Bavarians will continue to stick to their system with ‘i’s in the future. That will soon be supplemented by the three-digit code that is traditionally used for many models with combustion engines, so that ‘i430’ could refer to a variant of the current i4, while something like ‘iX340’ further streamlines the naming of the iX3. Such EVs are currently still given names such as ‘eDrive40’ after the type designation to report the engine power.
The patent does not only contain names of electric cars, but there are also a few old acquaintances among them. For example, BMW has had the same difficulties with naming for some time with the X models, the SUVs. That is why, for example, an ‘X5 xDrive50i’ would soon be renamed ‘X550’. The iconic letter M also appears in the list, although it is one entry in the ‘M350’ name. That could therefore indicate a new top version for the 3 Series under the M3. The only thing missing, however, is the ‘d’ suffix for the diesel models, although there is a good chance that those names will simply remain unchanged. For example, a 330d would still indicate a diesel Dreier, while the petrol variant will now be ‘330’ without ‘i’.
