Either automotive rendering artists have gotten really good or BMW have been slipping up during this coronavirus lockdown season. This week alone, we saw images of a possible 2 Series Coupé peaking through wraps, the iX3 casually sitting around without any camouflage and photos of the upcoming 5 Series facelift. Let’s tackle each of these one by one.
2 Series Coupé
The 2 Series is a relatively new name for the BMW brand, so they’ve used it for some pretty experimental stuff. In the previous generation, BMW introduced the concept of front-wheel drive compact MPVs with transversely mounted engines with the 2 Series Active Tourer and Gran Tourer. In the current generation, the front-wheel drive mantle has been passed to the 2 Series Gran Coupe, which now takes the battle directly to the Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan. The first of the leaks we saw this week show what looks to be a 2 Series Coupé barely hidden under covers.
The leak comes from Instagram user @Wilcoblok who posted two seperate photos of the car with covers lifted just enough to see its face and rear end.
The 2 Series Coupé is most likely what we are looking at here. This is rumoured to retain a rear-wheel drive layout. The rear end combines the mid mounted license plate position with the coupé ‘L’ brake light graphic. The result is a bit unsettling, but it might look better in the right light. Let’s give it a chance. Apparently BMW will only reveal more information on the 2 Series closer to 2021.
iX3
BMW developed the current X3 with the goal of eventually producing an all-electric variant called the iX3. They’ve been teasing and testing this all-electric iX3 (and i4) for months now. We sometimes see spy shots of the iX3 testing on circuits or in harsh weather. But all of a sudden, it appeared in either a really natural-looking render or at an empty park and someone posted photos of it, complete with those ugly, lightweight rims BMW made for the car. Besides that, the grille seems to be covered up and there are blue accents throughout, including where the tailpipe exits would be. Otherwise, this could be a totally normal X3 in white with bits from other BMWs grafted or digitally rendered on… Hmmm…
5 Series
Finally, in what looks like the only actual official photo leak, we see a preview of the 5 Series facelift. Of course, this too has the chance of being an amalgamation of the current 5 Series shape with newer 3 Series and 7 Series facelift parts just digitally rendered on. But just look at the car – it’s perfect. The photo even shows a charge port, indicating that this is the PHEV model, perhaps even a 6-cylinder version? The facelifted 5 Series was expected to be shown in May 2020, but we’ll have to see if that gets pushed further back. In Malaysia, the current 5 Series has been on sale since March 2017.
