2025 BMW 4-Series Focuses Mainly on Interior Upgrades
While the 2025 i4 M50 carries over its 536-hp all-electric powertrain (with 270 miles of range), the combustion-powered 2025 4-Series models add 48-volt mild-hybrid technology for both the four-cylinder and six-cylinder variants.
Changes inside the cabin are fairly significant, with a new instrument panel, center console, and steering wheel.
Sales figures provide clues as to why BMW is updating the i4. In the first quarter of 2023, BMW sold 5,291 i4 EVs, but that figure has plummeted to barely 1,000 units in the same quarter this year.
Yes, it helps to have a scorecard to keep track of Munich’s wide-reaching product offerings in the US—a strategy that so far places BMW (with 85,403 vehicles sold in the first quarter) well ahead of Lexus and Mercedes-Benz in the race for luxury brand supremacy.
Fresh product keeps the metal moving, so the 4-Series is receiving some upgrades for the 2025 model year. By way of background, the second-generation 4-Series coupe and convertible arrived as 2021 models, and those refreshes were announced earlier this year, as 2025 models.
Going back further, it was 2014 when BMW launched the first 4-Series as a dedicated two-door variant of the 3-Series sedan. But it's not that simple. A four-door 4-Series Gran Coupe came along with a more coupe-like profile than the 3-Series, and they've been platform siblings ever since. The all-electric i4 variant arrived in late 2021.
While the 2025 i4 M50 carries over its 536-hp all-electric powertrain (with 270 miles of range), the combustion-powered 2025 4-Series models add 48-volt mild-hybrid technology for both the 255-hp turbocharged four-cylinder (with 295 lb-ft of torque) in the 430i Gran Coupe and for the 386-hp turbocharged inline six-cylinder (with 398 lb-ft of torque) in the M440i xDrive Gran Coupe.
The four-cylinder benefits on the efficiency side from addition of the Miller cycle combustion process and redesigned intake ports and combustion chambers, but the horsepower and torque figures stay the same. Meanwhile, the six-cylinder in the M440i gets an extra 11 hp as boost from the auxiliary electric drive of the 48-volt starter generator.
Changes inside the cabin are fairly significant, with a new instrument panel, center console, and steering wheel.
The conventional cockpit with a brow over the instrument panel has been replaced by a large horizontal curved display that extends from behind the steering wheel to above the center console, governed by BMW operating system 8.5 and giving access to climate control, navigation, media, and vehicle settings. New interior accents include brushed aluminum and open-pore wood trim.
On the outside, the controversial twin-kidney grille hasn't gotten any smaller, but there are new color and matte-chrome treatments, as well as redesigned slim headlamps, paint finishes, and light-alloy 19- and 20-inch wheels. Rear lights will be available with laser-lit accents.
Sales figures provide clues as to why BMW is updating the i4. In the first quarter of 2023, BMW sold 5291 i4 EVs, but that figure has plummeted to barely 1000 units in the same quarter this year. Meanwhile, the i4 is certainly outselling the larger i5 and i7 sedans this year.
The gasoline-powered 4-Series cars (oddly including both four-door and two-door body styles) have been doing better in showrooms, finding nearly 9,000 new US homes in the first quarter, up a few thousand units from last year.
Production of these new 4-Series models will begin in July in Munich, so watch for them at your local Bimmer dealerships in September or October. We'll find out about that time whether these 4-Series changes will be baked into the 2025 3-Series, so stay tuned.
Do you think it's smart that BMW is consolidating its internal-combustion and all-electric vehicle platforms, rather than offering completely different models? Please comment below.
