Official: An Electric BMW M Car Is Arriving This Year

While reporting record sales for 2020, BMW's M Division has announced it'll be "presenting" an electric model this year
Official: An Electric BMW M Car Is Arriving This Year

Whenever asked about an electric M car, BMW execs have consistently insisted such a thing is a long way off. However, it seems one might be arriving a lot sooner than expected.

In its sales report for 2020 (we’ll get back to that later), M Division dropped in some official confirmation of its plug-in plans. “During the year 2021, the BMW M GmbH will be presenting an electrically powered performance automobile for the first time,” the press release notes.

Official: An Electric BMW M Car Is Arriving This Year

Our understanding is this won’t be a full-fat M car, rather something more of the M135i/M340i/M550i ilk. These cars were previously considered to be ‘M Performance’ machines, but BMW now has them all under the M GmbH banner.

A likely candidate for the M-ish treatment is the i4, due to be fully revealed later this year. An M-enhanced i4 may well be launched alongside the standard car, mirroring what BMW has done for much of its internal combustion-engined cars revealed over the last few years.

Official: An Electric BMW M Car Is Arriving This Year

The near-production-ready Concept i4 is already a pokey thing, producing 523bhp and dispatching 0-62mph in four seconds dead despite having to cart around a 550kg battery pack. It shouldn’t be too hard to turn the wick up a little further, and with a low centre of gravity, the car should respond well to chassis tweaks.

The controversially-styled iX crossover (below), similarly powerful to the Concept i4 in its standard guise, could also be a candidate. Whichever gets there first in semi-M form, BMW is promising “a completely new manifestation of the distinctive M feeling.”

Official: An Electric BMW M Car Is Arriving This Year

With these EV plans plus a market launch for the M3 and M4 happening imminently, 2021 is set to be a big year for M. 2020 worked out nicely, with the outfit growing its sales by six per cent to 144,218 units despite a global pandemic suppressing the new car market. Arch rival Mercedes-AMG, for comparison, saw its sales shrink by five per cent to 125,129.

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Comments

Anonymous

wow, easy there. an “electrically powered (…) automobile” doesn’t need to be an EV, might be an hybrid, such as the rumoured hybrid version of the M5 or the sucessor to the i8

01/19/2021 - 15:09 |
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