BMW model badges will undergo a significant update.

BMW may be set to change its name after decades of adding a "i" at the end.

UPDATE, May 2, 2024: BMW has said that it will no longer use the letter "i" on the badges of its gasoline-powered vehicles going forward, but it will keep the letter on its electric vehicles.

A top official at BMW confirmed a rumor originally published by Drive a year ago when he informed the website BMW Blog that the 'i' will be removed from the end of the names of its gasoline-powered model designations.

However, since its introduction in the 1970s to denote cars with fuel-injection technology, the letter "i" has come to stand for "innovation," particularly in relation to its growing lineup of battery-powered models.

Bernd Korber, Senior Vice President of BMW Brand and Product Management, said, "Historically, even though our interpretation of BMW 'i' was always different, it's more innovation, not necessarily only electric, and we had injection at the end [of the badge]."

"We said, we would like to keep ‘i’ as an asset, and we would like to keep it as a signature to indicate you’re driving an electric car and that was the logic that we had."

With the 740i and i7 M70 xDrive versions being marketed side by side, the change is intended to clear up any misunderstanding among consumers.

Although 'e' would seem like an easy option for electric vehicles, the German automaker has recently utilized this to set its plug-in hybrid models apart.

UPDATE: June 4th, 2023 An insider at BMW, who has already disclosed information on the company's new naming guidelines, has now disclosed what the company's SUV plans are.

It has been reported by 'ynguldyn' that BMW intends to remove the letter 'i' from the name of its petrol SUVs shortly. This move will bring BMW's badges consistent with those of the rest of its passenger range.

For instance, the gasoline-powered version of the next-generation SUV may be referred to as the X3 20 xDrive rather than the X3 xDrive20i.

According to reports, the variation titles will also be changed to better represent BMW's electric vehicle lineup. For example, the performance version will be called the X3 M50 xDrive, much like the i4 M50 xDrive badge for the electric 4 Series sedan.

While keeping the 'd', diesel vehicles will also adopt the new format; for instance, the top-of-the-line diesel model may be called the BMW X3 40d xDrive.

18 May 2023: In order to make more room for its electric vehicles, BMW may be preparing to modify the names of its models.

An insider using under the handle "ynguldyn"—who has a reputation for disclosing future BMW model plans—claims that the automaker will shortly remove the "i" from the badge designations of its gasoline-powered cars.

BMW added a 'i' to its model designations in the 1970s to distinguish between models with fuel injection and those with carburetors. The latter quickly became standard on BMW automobiles.

'ynguldyn' claims in a recent BimmerPost forum post that the sporty M135i will become the M135 and the new-generation 118i hatchback will become the 118.

They did, however, add: "It's unclear whether this will apply to all next models. Keep an eye on this area."

The information was released shortly after it was discovered that BMW had trademarked 43 new model names, with the 'i' being shifted to the front of the logo.

The 'BMW i' label now denotes the company's electric lineup, even though the letter 'i' initially stood for gasoline injection.

Accordingly, in the next years, the battery-powered i120 and the gasoline-powered 118 could be offered for sale together.