BMW has confirmed that it will be dropping the “i” from its petrol-powered models. This is according to an interview done by BMW Blog with BMW Brand and Product Management Senior Vice President, Bernd Korber, enquiring on why the “i” is missing from the upcoming X3 M50, which is set to replace the outgoing M40i variant.
Commenting on the decision to remove the “i” name from BMW’s petrol models, Korber said, “Historically, even though our interpretation of BMW i was always different, it’s more innovation, not necessarily only electric, and we historically had injection at the end [of the badge], we said, we would like to keep ‘i’ as an asset, and we would like to keep it as a signature to indicate you’re driving an electric car and that was the logic that we had.”
The 1 Series hatchback and 2 Series Gran Coupe are expected to be the next models to lose the “i” at the end of their names, as all-new generations of the two models are expected to debut within this year. There are even rumours that the 7 Series facelift (LCI) will also come without the “i” in its name as it make its debut in 2026.
But of course, the removal of the “i” name will only affect BMW’s purely petrol-powered models, as the name will continue to live on with BMW’s all-electric models, such as the i4, i5, iX1, iX2, and so on. The German brand’s plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models on the other hand will continue to feature an “e” at the back of their names.
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