宝马目前正在开发i家族的第三款车型——i5，预计该车将于2020年底上市。该车定位在i3和i8之间，它很可能是一款类似X5尺寸的SUV，最近国外网站发布了i5合成图，让我们先睹为快。该车基于FSAR（Flat Battery Storage Assembly）平台，主要面向家庭用户。宝马i品牌产品主管Henrik Wenders透露，其定位是“家庭首辆车”。这款车将是一款纯电动车，而非混动车，另外可以选装增程内燃机引擎。Wenders表示，由于电动车存在行驶里程有限的问题，因此提高续航里程将是未来几年工作的重点。一旦发现可以更好的增加续航里程的办法，就不会采用内燃机引擎。在此之前，我们仍将继续提供增程选装件以满足部分用户的需求。目前还不清楚i5最终上市日期，但或许要等到德国政府出台新的电动车优惠措施以后，该车才会亮相。换言之，我们要想看到最终产品至少还要等两到三年时间。

 

BMW i5 imagined as X5's electric brother

With the i3 and i8 slowly changing the image of Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), the Bavarian brand is reportedly working on the third model of the i-family – namely the i5, expected to arrive by the end of the decade.

 

The model will be positioned between the i3 and i8 and will most likely take the shape of an X5-sized SUV, and this exclusive rendering by our colleagues at OmniAuto shows a possible look for it. Based on a platform called FSAR (Flat Battery Storage Assembly), the i5 will be aimed at families, and that means “it must be capable of being the first car in the household,” as Henrik Wenders, BMW i’s head of product, told Car and Driver two months ago.

 

While BMW is not ”going to join the race about maximum range figures,” the Tesla Model X-fighter is expected to offer about 200 miles (321 kilometers) of all-electric range. As confirmed by Wenders, the vehicle will be a pure electric car, rather than a hybrid, and a range-extending internal-combustion engine will be an option.

 

“The range-extender plays an important part in the next years when range remains a limiting factor and a source of anxiety,” Wenders said. “Of course, once we get to a range that is more comparable with that of an internal-combustion engine it will become obsolete. So this is the reason I can say we will continue to offer the range-extender in the future as optional equipment, to address different customer needs.”

 

Of course, we still don’t have an exact launch date for the i5, but many believe the debut could be timed to coincide with new German incentives for electric vehicles. In other words, look for the final production model on the road in at least two or three years from now.