Report: BMW’s electric vehicle timeline update, too little too late

After unveiling its ‘Vision NEXT100’ plan, BMW was reportedly “putting electric vehicles on the back burner” in order to focus on self-driving. The company only officially announced a new BMW i8 in 2018, hopefully all-electric this time, and its iNEXT all-electric and autonomous car in 2021. The iNEXT will be based on a concept unveiled earlier this year.

Now a new report on the German automaker’s updated electric vehicle timeline claims to give more insights into vehicle releases over the next 5-6 years, and it is just as disappointing as BMW’s official timeline.

Automobile Mag is out with a report inappropriately titled ‘BMW Doubles Down on EVs‘. The publication reports that BMW’s new EV initiative is called ‘Project i20’ and the gist of it is:

• the long-rumoured BMW i5 or i6, an all-electric SUV, would arrive in late 2021
• A new generation BMW i3 with more electric range scheduled for 2022
• Another BMW i8 generation, which could actually be the one featuring an all-electric powertrain.

If this timeline turns out to be true, it would be extremely disappointing for EV enthusiasts and BMW would be left behind as competitors are actually planning a myriad of new electric entries in the market before the end of the decade, including Audi, Tesla and Mercedes – BMW’s main competitors.

• Mercedes is expected to bring an all-electric SUV to market next year and plans 3 more EVs before 2020
• Audi has the e-tron quattro coming in 2018, an electric version of the Q5 is also expected, as well as more vehicles through 2025 under VW’s electric vehicle effort.
• Tesla has the Model 3 and Model Y confirmed to hit the market in the next few years.

The BMW i3 came out in 2013 and it was generally believed that more electric vehicles would follow, but we are now talking about what could very well end up being 8 years before the company releases a new all-electric model.

In its latest ad campaign, BMW highlights how electric vehicle buyers don’t have to wait for the Tesla Model 3 to get a good electric car, but BMW is sure making us wait to get a decent (all-electric) one from them.

I feel like bringing back a now classic: BMW CEO literally hitting himself on the head with denial