The appearance of the electric car led to many changes in the range of manufacturers, starting with the names of individual models.

Let’s be honest today it’s a joyous mess to find your way, between electric and thermal models bearing the same name, cars with suffixes and prefixes, or even ranges within specific ranges. Recently, Audi changed its nomenclature again, announcing that future electric cars will be marked with an even number, and with an internal combustion engine – an odd number.

Today, it’s BMW that we’re interested in, with information coming from our colleagues at Carbuzz. BMW is also preparing to present new denominations in the assortment.

At BMW, how does it work?

Our American colleagues discovered 48 new names are registered by BMW in the German Patent Office. But before presenting a list of possible new models, it is worth recalling how the nomenclature of the Bavarian firm works. The first three numbers indicate the series of the model and its engine, and the presence of the prefix “i” means the electric version.

Similarly, the letters ‘d’, ‘e’ and ‘i’ at the end of the series of numbers denote the diesel, hybrid and petrol variants respectively. Finally, there is the special case of “M”, all identified by that letter before the numbers, regardless of engine, electric, thermal or PHEV.

BMW 1 series

• i118
• i120
• i130
• i140

BMW X1/iX1

• X130
• iX120
• iX130

BMW X2/iX2

• iX220
• iX230
• iX240

BMW 3 series

• i320
• i330
• i340
• M350

BMW X3/iX3

• X320
• X330
• iX330
• iX340
• iX350

BMW 4 series

• i420
• i430
• i450

BMW X4/iX4

• X420
• iX430
• iX440
• iX450

BMW 5 series

• i530
• i550

BMW X5/iX5

• X540
• X550
• X560
• iX540
• iX550
• iX560

BMW X6/iX6

• X640
• X650
• iX640
• iX650
• iX660

BMW 7 series

• i740
• i750
• i760

BMW X7/iX7

• X740
• X750
• X760
• iX740
• iX750
• iX760

A rain of novelties is expected

Note, however, that simply registering these names does not mean that BMW will use them. In any case, it is worth noting that most of the registered models are electric, and some are brand new, as the X4, X6 and X7 with their ‘i’ variants..

The document also mentions an electric 1 Series that will compete with the upcoming zero-emissions Audi A3. There’s only one M on the list at the moment, the M350, which might be the most powerful electric 3 Series yet.