► Electric four-door concept
► 373-mile range, 0-62mph in 4.0sec
► Could this be the BMW i5?
Could this be the precursor to a BMW i5 saloon? This is the i Vision Dynamics concept, BMW’s latest take on electrifying the car market and a move to stick it to Tesla in the process. The covers were pulled off at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show.
Tell us more about BMW’s Tesla defeat device
The i Vision Dynamics concept is a low, sleek four-door ‘Gran Coupe’-like car, with flush doorhandles, comedy-size wheels and window lines like that of the BMW i3.
BMW’s kidney grill remains, but instead of it incorporating actual vents, the brand says that it is now a home to autonomous sensors and has therefore turned the legendary nostrils ‘into an intelligent surface’ that could be used to house the various sensors and cameras required for autonomous driving.
Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW Group’s senior VP for design, said he was ‘optimistic that we can make what’s on the show stand a reality.’
Is there any technical info on the BMW i Vision Dynamics concept?
Looking for performance headlines? How does a 373-mile (or 600km) range sound? What about a 0-62mph time in around 4.0 seconds? Not too shabby – although we feel the proposed 120mph top speed could try harder.
The concept sits on BMW’s latest ‘flexible architecture’, which allows not only BEV cars — that’s Battery Electric Vehicles, fact fans – but hybrids and combustion engine vehicles on the same platform, too.
BMW CEO Harald Krüger, says: ‘With the BMW i Vision Dynamics we are showcasing how we envisage future electric mobility between the i3 and i8: a dynamic and progressive, four-door Gran Coupe. We are therefore electrifying the heart of the BMW brand and, at the same time, elevating BMW i into a totally new dimension.’
Is BMW actually going to build this thing?
A production version could be nearer than you think.
Dick Arnold, head of product management at BMW, used the i8 as an example of when we could see the full production model hit showrooms: ‘The Vision EfficientDynamics concept came out in 2011, which ended up being the i8 [that went on sale in 2014].
‘If you look at the concept car and the production car, you can see that they are pretty closely matched; this is a good example of what we’ve shown today.’
By that logic then we could see a fully-fledged Model S rival from BMW as early as 2020 – three years from now.
Click here for CAR’s A-Z all of the new cars that matter at Frankfurt 2017