By: Adrian Padeanu – Motor1
The fully electric four-door 4 Series could be joined by a conventionally powered M4 Gran Coupe.
When BMW laid out the plans for the next-generation 7 Series earlier this year, it promised to offer its flagship model with gasoline and diesel engines, topped by a fully electric variant. It would seem it’ll be the same story with the 4 Series as the M4 / M4 Competition will be dethroned by the i4 in terms of output. That’s the story we’re hearing from Autocar, which claims the road-going i4 will have a dual-motor setup with 523 hp and approximately 600 pound-feet (813 Newton-meters).
How do these numbers stack up against the M4? Well, BMW hasn’t revealed the car yet, but the inline-six should deliver somewhere in the region of 503 hp. That would represent only 20 hp less than the i4, but the far more significant difference will be the torque. While the i4 is claimed to have roughly 600 pound-feet (813 Newton-meters), the M4 in Competition spec will have to make do with “only” 442 lb-ft (600 Nm) provided that number will be carried over from the X4 M Competition.
