Next-gen BMW M4 to be EV-only

Just a couple of months after the 4 Series Grand Coupe was axed from Australia, rumours of an all-electric future for the 4 Series and perhaps more notably, the M4, have started swirling out of Europe.

According to a recent report by BMW Blog, the Bavarian brand has no intention of developing a third-generation 4 Series with internal combustion power, and will instead make the mid-sized coupe (and convertible) an electric-only proposition.

This move is at odds with the next-gen 3 Series (and M3) portfolio which will be offered with the choice of petrol or battery power, the halo M car of which is primed to be a quad-motor, 746kW-plus monster.

Logic would suggest the M4 will continue its tradition of being a two-door M3 clone, meaning the next-gen offering will likely become the most powerful BMW coupe to date, underpinned by the brand’s upcoming Neue Klasse platform and donning a radically different aesthetic to its buck-toothed predecessor.

BMW Blog’s sources said the new model was currently in the design phase of its development and would definitively step away from its forebearers’ “ICE looks”, no doubt resembling a sportier evolution of the Vision Neue Klasse sedan.

The outlet said: “BMW aims to attract a new generation of buyers with a futuristic, minimalistic, yet bold look, marking a shift in the M4’s identity as we know it today.”

With the ‘NA2’ 4 Series not due to global release until 2028, it’s likely we won’t see the subsequent ‘ZA2’ M4 Electric until the end of the decade and definitely not before the release of the preceding M3 Electric.

As if they weren’t valuable enough already, odds are the used prices of the recent M4 CS, CSL, Competition and manual variants will skyrocket as purists look to lockdown the ultimate expression of what will probably be BMW’s last ICE hero coupe.

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