BMW has confirmed it plans to release plug-in versions of all of its future car models.
The company confirmed that major models would be receiving hybrid spin-offs back in December, signalling BMW’s growing interest in the eco-friendly market.
Speaking to Autoblog in an interview, however, BMW North America CEO Ludwig Willisch said: “
BMW’s next plug-in hybrid will be the X5 xDrive40e, which is currently being showed off at the New York motor show.
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The CEO also squashed rumours of a BMW i5 and i7, suggesting that the company wants to first focus on its plug-in models.
The i5 and i7 are rumoured expansions to BMW’s i-series, the company’s futuristic range of zero-emissions vehicles.
The line-up currently consists of the BMW i3 and the BMW i8, but new additions to the line-up won’t happen ‘any time soon’ according to Willisch.
The i5 and i7 were rumoured to compete with Tesla’s Model S, but the CEO claims BMW doesn’t have a car like that.
BMW first unveiled its i-series cars back in 2013, kicking off with the five-door urban vehicle i3.
This was soon followed by the BMW i8, which initially landed in Germany in June last year.
BMW has confirmed that more cars will join the i-series line-up, but it’s not yet clear when this will happen, or what type of vehicle we’ll see.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
