BMW has repeatedly said that the upcoming production version of the iNext concept will be its new flagship, leaving the 7 Series behind. What they didn’t tell us was how many versions of it will be available. A new report from Automobile Mag claims that the production car will come in three flavors, one more enticing than the other, along with a different model name than ‘iNext’.
According to their sources, the iNext will be sold under the i6 moniker which should give us a hint at how big the car is going to be. Considering future EVs in crossover or SUV guise will wear iX nameplates, like the iX3 and iX5, and sedans will borrow the same style but without the ‘X’ in the middle – such as the upcoming i7 and i5, replacements for the 5er and 7er – the i6 should be somewhere between the 5 Series and 7 Series. It will probably be as big as the 6 Series GT, and a bit taller, close to a crossover in ground clearance.
The entry level model is said to have a 63 kWh battery pack and a total of 335 HP with a range of 285 miles (460 km). This will be the lightest of the three with a weight under 5,300 lbs (2.4 tons). Those figures would allow it to do 0-62 mph in 4.5 seconds. The mid-tier model will reportedly have a 92 kWh battery, 429 HP and with a sprint time of 3.5 seconds, the range being estimated at 350 miles (over 560 km). Last but not least, the top tier version should have two motors.
There would be one at the front axle good for 200 hp and one at the rear for 335 for a total of over 500 HP. This one would also get a 103 kWh battery pack and an under 3 seconds sprint to the benchmark 62 mph speed. This top model will get 350 miles of range between charges. All of this does sound like what a respectable manufacturer would do, offering its customers a wider variety of models. Such a line-up would have prices spread between 72,000 Euros to over 100,000 before options and could make the iNext or i6 a popular car, depending on whether it delivers on its autonomous driving features. As I mentioned, this is just a rumor for now, so you do need to take it with a grain of salt until some sort of official confirmation arrives.
[Source: Automobile Mag]
