BMW has recently filed trademarks with the German Trade Mark and Patent Office that suggest the automaker may be considering changes to its current nomenclature. These names hint at potential changes to BMW’s naming convention, but it’s important to keep in mind that trademark filings do not guarantee that the automaker will use these names or implement these changes.
Currently, BMW uses numbers to indicate its model series, followed by a suffix (d, i, or e) to denote the type of powertrain, whether diesel, petrol, or electrified hybrid. However, as BMW expands its range of electric vehicles, its naming convention has become somewhat confusing, with the “i” prefix used for its EVs, such as the i4, iX, iX1, and i7, followed by numbers indicating the specific variant, such as the BMW iX xDrive40 or the BMW i4 M50.
Read: BMW M Expects Its EVs To Outsell Combustion Models By 2028
The recent BMW trademark filings have sparked speculation about potential changes to the automaker’s naming conventions. According to CarBuzz that discovered the trademark filling, it includes names like iX750, X750, and i750. While those names may seem a little confusing, it’s possible that iX750 refers to an electric version of the X7, called the iX7 and fitted with a ‘50’ powertrain. Meanwhile, X750 could denote an X7 with a ‘50’ powertrain while i750 would be used for an i7 with the ‘50’ powertrain. Other names that have been trademarked by BMW include iX130, i120, i530, and i530 xDrive, with the latter suggesting that BMW will continue to use ‘xDrive’ to signify models with its all-wheel drive system.
BMW’s new naming scheme could extend to its popular 3-Series range. The filings reveal names such as i320, i330, and i340, indicating that they may be used to denote the various electric powertrains that the 3-Series will be offered with. Additionally, BMW has also applied to trademark M350. The absence of the ‘i’ prefix in the name suggests that M350 could be a combustion model, potentially replacing the current M340i.
Take a look at the names that BMW filed for trademarks with the German Trade Mark and Patent Office below.
BMW 1 Series/i1:
- i118
- i120
- i130
- i140
BMW X1/iX1:
- X130
- iX120
- iX130
BMW X2/iX2:
- iX220
- iX230
- iX240
BMW 3 Series/i3:
- i320
- i330
- i340
- M350
BMW X3/iX3:
- X320
- X330
- iX330
- iX340
- iX350
BMW 4 Series/i4:
- i420
- i430
- i450
BMW X4/iX4:
- X420
- iX430
- iX440
- iX450
BMW 5 Series/i5:
- i530
- i550
BMW X5/iX5:
- X540
- X550
- X560
- iX540
- iX550
- iX560
BMW X6/iX6:
- X640
- X650
- iX640
- iX650
- iX660
BMW 7 Series/i7:
- i740
- i750
- i760
BMW X7/iX7:
- X740
- X750
- X760
- iX740
- iX750
- iX760
