BMW could replace the X4 with the fully electric iX4

The next-generation electric car platform, Neue Klasse de BMW, arrives in 2025, which means some exciting new fully electric cars are heading our way from Munich. But it seems at least one current combustion car will be retired to make way for a new product. We’re talking about the BMW X4.

The BMW X4 is a fastback version of the BMW X3 and saw strong demand when it was updated in 2019. However, the Munich-based company did not see it as viable to launch a third generation of the combustion-engined SUV. BMW Blog, citing information from Bimmer Post, reports that BMW’s original plans called for both combustion and electric versions of the X4.

The BMW X4 could become an BMW iX4

The petrol-powered SUV could be based on an updated version of the current CLAR architecture, while the electric version would be underpinned by the Neue Klasse platform, and that is apparently also what will happen with the 3 Series and X3 to allow the Bavarian brand to offer combustion engines and fully electric versions.

But now it seems that only the electric BMW iX4 will reach the finish line. It is expected to arrive sometime in 2026, a year after the first cars using the Neue Klasse platform launch. Those models will be an electric equivalent of the 3 Series, potentially called the i3 and aimed at the Tesla Model 3 (the i4 is more coupé-shaped) and the iX3.

Unlike other premium brands that are committed to electrification and pledge to get rid of petrol engines by the end of the decade, BMW is taking a more cautious approach. It has committed to electric vehicles accounting for 50 percent of its cars by 2030, which still leaves room for many combustion vehicles in dealership showrooms. But it seems there isn’t enough room for the X4. We’ll have to wait a little longer for official confirmation.