BMW has been the title partner of the BMW Open by American Express since 1987 and it has a special treat for this year’s winner. The player to triumph at the ATP Tour event will drive home in an i4 M50, the best-selling M car of 2022. The electric gran coupe is a bit more special since it has an Individual matte paint and carries the 50 years of M emblems.
This year’s total prize money amounts to €630,705 and BMW has prepared a fleet of electric vehicles to transport players. EVs include the iX1, iX3, and iX SUVs as well as the company’s flagship model – the i7. Ahead of today’s start of the 2023 BMW Open by American Express, the Winner’s Car was unveiled at the BMW Group Plant Munich where the i4 is manufactured.
The factory will become an important EV manufacturing hub as BMW has already announced plans to build models on the Neue Klasse platform from 2026. BMW Group Plant Munich celebrated its centenary last year. It won’t be the first to make NK-based vehicles as that role has been assigned to the new Debrecen factory in Hungary, which will become operational in 2025.
The i4 M50 pictured here is only one of the two electric M Performance models, with the other being the iX M60. This year, BMW will roll out the i7 M70 and will be intensifying work on what will become the first fully fledged M car with an electric drivetrain. It has already previewed a prototype based on the i4 M50 but fitted with quad motors.
As a refresher, BMW M projects purely electric cars will outsell ICE and PHEV combined as early as 2028. It’s a bold expectation considering PHEVs and EVs are expected to account for less than 20% this year. In the long run, the vast majority of BMW M sales will be represented by EVs at the end of the decade.
