Look, the fully electric BMW i4 can powerslide!

By topgear, 25 January 2021

“The BMW i4 offers everything BMW stands for,” explains… BMW. Pick over the rocky terrain of the company’s recent form, and – design jests aside – that basically means: Must Slide On Command.

We thus have official visual proof that the upcoming BMW i4 possesses an arcane, long-established BMW trait. Pictured here undergoing its final dynamics tests, we’re told the focus was on blending the componentry and ‘spontaneous’ electric power delivery.

This is in order to make the i4 handle “precisely”. There are special dampers on board to prevent the body dipping when it takes off – and with a 526bhp electric powertrain and 0-62mph in four seconds, it’ll dip – along with wheel slip limitation tech.

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Naturally, BMW claims it’s amazing to drive. The i4’s steering is said to be ‘accurate’ and ‘precise’, and the ride is ‘largely insusceptible’ to road bumps. Good thing, considering the i4 claims a WLTP range of up to 600km (373 miles).

“For the first time, we’ve developed a BMW with sporty DNA for purely electric driving entirely from sctach,” explains i4 project manager David Camacho. True – we already know that M division has been having a poke around the i4/iNext, and will come up with an even sportier version too…