There have been a lot of spy photos of the upcoming BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe surfacing as of late. Most of them have been of the standard car, based off of the 4 Series Coupe. However, some new spy photos show off the all-electric version of the car, the i4. But not just any version of the i4, potentially the performance version — the BMW i4 M50. (We don’t own the spy photos but you can see them here)
In these new photos, we see a test mule prototype of what very well may be the upcoming BMW i4 M50, the performance version that will get tuned by the M Division. At first glance, it might look like a standard BMW i4 but a closer look will reveal that it’s actually an M-ified version.
The biggest giveaway are the side mirrors. They’re clearly from the M Division parts bin, as they’re the same side mirrors that you’ll find on the new BMW M3 and M4. Since BMW only uses such mirrors on proper M cars and not M Performance cars, it’s likely that this is the i4 M50. Admittedly, that’s very confusing, since the car will wear an “M50” badge, which is typically a sign of an M Performance car and not a proper M car.
You can also see subtle fender flares tacked onto the body work, indicating that this car is going to have a wider wheel-track than the standard i4. This test mule doesn’t seem to quite fill its fenders out, so maybe that’s a bit presumptuous, but the little flares are present nevertheless.
When the BMW i4 M50 finally debuts, it will have a dual-motor setup with around 450-460 horsepower and an overboost function that will temporarily bring power up to about 500-530 horsepower. That’s about the same power level as its closest competitor, the Tesla Model 3 Performance but we’ll see if the BMW can perform like its Silicon Valley rival.