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The BMW i8
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: “With the introduction of every new model, there will be a plug-in hybrid version of that, too.”
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.