In January, German outlets reported that Mercedes-Benz will abandon the newly inaugurated EQS naming scheme for battery electric cars. The automaker has no plans to launch new ICE vehicles after 2025, making the differentiation unnecessary for a few years. Earlier this month, Audi CEO Markus Duesmann explained AutoBild that Audi would revamp its vehicle naming scheme to give ICE vehicles odd numbers and electric vehicles getting even numbers. CarBuzz says the latest of the German luxury big three could be about to launch its marker on the name table. BMW filed more than 40 applications for trademark names for vehicles ranging from the i118 to the iX760 and an M350.
The 48 trademark applications CarBuzz above combine four categories defined by letters or numbers, names beginning with “i”, “X”, “iX” or “M”, followed by a number. It is possible that the “i” stands for electric cars as in the i7, “X” stands for crossovers and SAVs, “iX” therefore stands for an electric SAV like the one currently on the market, and “M” stands for you -knows-who . The number would define a car’s place in the starting hierarchy.
Of course, the full list leaves us with two big unknowns. The first is whether these trademarked alphanumerics would form entire model names or simply the roots of model names. BMW’s current lexicon includes suffixes such as “d”, “i”, “e”, “sDrive”, “xDrive” and “MPerformance”. There’s no reason the potentially facelifted iX560 won’t become the iX560 xDrive when it’s produced. The second is whether non-electrics would withstand the same adjustment steps. The production X5 range in the States includes the X5 s- and xDrive40i, X5 xDrive50e, X5 M60i and X5 M Competition. These first three could be linked to the list of trademarks like the future X540, X550 and X560. But would the iX540, iX550 and iX560 simply be the electric versions of the trio?
We probably won’t have to wait too long to find out. With the bread-and-butter 5 Series soon entering a new generation, a new scheme may be coming. Also, let’s remember that nothing can come of it: car manufacturers are constantly filing trademark applications all over the world. However, maybe something should come of this. BMW names have become, like some German words, uncomfortably long and full of detailed information that you can only understand if you know the language.
