No more 330i, just 330 | BMW to drop the "i" for petrol cars & use it only for EVs

RahulNagaraj · 4th May 2024, 16:32

BMW has officially confirmed that it will drop the "i" at the end of its petrol-powered vehicles names. The change in nomenclature is to make its model names less confusing in the future. So, instead of "BMW 330i", the model will simply be named "BMW 330". The "i" will be exclusively used on BMW's EV offerings.

The "i" suffix at the end of its petrol-powered models was first introduced in the 1970s to denote fuel injection and has been used on every petrol model since. Going forward, it will only be numeric, with the first number indicating the model and the last two indicating the engine.

No more 330i, just 330 | BMW to drop the "i" for petrol cars & use it only for EVs-340ilogo.jpeg

The "i" in electric vehicles stands for innovation. BMW already has a number of electric vehicles in its product lineup, ranging from the iX1 to the i7.

Bernd Korber, Senior VP of Brand Management, BMW, stated, "Historically, even though our interpretation of BMW i was always different, it’s more innovation, not necessarily only electric, and we historically 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."

Source: BMWBlog

Link to Team-BHP news

TheHelix0202 · 4th May 2024, 17:25

Great, BMW finds innovative ways to make its fan base hate it and others troll it harder. Excellent move in that regard!

Hayek · 4th May 2024, 19:54

Makes immense sense and long overdue in my view. You could argue that perhaps BMW should not have started using “i” for their electric cars given that they already used “i” for Petrols. But frankly the “i” for Petrols has not added value for several years - all their cars have fuel injection. And just like Mercedes has the E220 for Petrols and E220d for diesels, BMW will have the 530 and the 530d. Incidentally they use “e” for plug in hybrids - I drove an X5 45e in Switzerland last year. But the original i8 was a plug in hybrid too.

So there has been some confusion in their thought process but in a world where an increasing share of the cars they sell will be electric, retaining the “i” badging for these cars was the right thing to do.

autobahnjpr · 5th May 2024, 17:19

I fail to understand the logic. Just put "p" for petrol, "d" for diesel and "e" for electric. And standardize it for all manufacturers. The nomenclature can be <variant><fuel> eg. 340p or 330p. Maruti can have vx-p, zx-p and so on.

4th May 2024, 16:32	#1
RahulNagaraj Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,297 Thanked: 22,081 Times	No more 330i, just 330 \| BMW to drop the "i" for petrol cars & use it only for EVs BMW has officially confirmed that it will drop the "i" at the end of its petrol-powered vehicles names. The change in nomenclature is to make its model names less confusing in the future. So, instead of "BMW 330i", the model will simply be named "BMW 330". The "i" will be exclusively used on BMW's EV offerings. The "i" suffix at the end of its petrol-powered models was first introduced in the 1970s to denote fuel injection and has been used on every petrol model since. Going forward, it will only be numeric, with the first number indicating the model and the last two indicating the engine. The "i" in electric vehicles stands for innovation. BMW already has a number of electric vehicles in its product lineup, ranging from the iX1 to the i7. Bernd Korber, Senior VP of Brand Management, BMW, stated, "Historically, even though our interpretation of BMW i was always different, it’s more innovation, not necessarily only electric, and we historically 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." Source: BMWBlog Link to Team-BHP news
	(9) Thanks

4th May 2024, 17:25	#2
TheHelix0202 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: BLR Posts: 1,086 Thanked: 2,987 Times Infractions: 0/1 (5)	Re: No more 330i, just 330 \| BMW to drop the "i" for petrol cars & use it only for EVs Great, BMW finds innovative ways to make its fan base hate it and others troll it harder. Excellent move in that regard!
	(20) Thanks

4th May 2024, 19:54	#3
Hayek Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,938 Thanked: 15,782 Times	Re: No more 330i, just 330 \| BMW to drop the "i" for petrol cars & use it only for EVs Makes immense sense and long overdue in my view. You could argue that perhaps BMW should not have started using “i” for their electric cars given that they already used “i” for Petrols. But frankly the “i” for Petrols has not added value for several years - all their cars have fuel injection. And just like Mercedes has the E220 for Petrols and E220d for diesels, BMW will have the 530 and the 530d. Incidentally they use “e” for plug in hybrids - I drove an X5 45e in Switzerland last year. But the original i8 was a plug in hybrid too. So there has been some confusion in their thought process but in a world where an increasing share of the cars they sell will be electric, retaining the “i” badging for these cars was the right thing to do.
	(12) Thanks

5th May 2024, 17:19	#4
autobahnjpr BHPian Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Jaipur, Noida Posts: 341 Thanked: 1,248 Times	Re: No more 330i, just 330 \| BMW to drop the "i" for petrol cars & use it only for EVs I fail to understand the logic. Just put "p" for petrol, "d" for diesel and "e" for electric. And standardize it for all manufacturers. The nomenclature can be <variant><fuel> eg. 340p or 330p. Maruti can have vx-p, zx-p and so on.
	(1) Thanks