BMW Name Changes: Not Just for the X6

Sections: E70 X5, E71 X6, E83 X3, E85 Z4 Roadster/Coupe, E86 Z4 M Coupe, Official News, Sales/Marketing Feb 27th, 2008 18 Comments

We have just received some breaking news courtesy from an internal BMW memo that confirms our original speculation. The names of the models in the X6 lineup were not created because of some marketing plan. The xDrive50i and xDrive35i may have some competition in the amount of (nomenclature related) weight added to the rear of BMW models in the not so distant future.

Here’s an excerpt from the internal BMW memo:

Due to upcoming U.S. regulations in effect for Model Year 2009, we are changing some of our naming protocol. The new naming protocol will affect all products that currently have an engine displacement designation within the name—X3, X5, X6, Z4 and Z4 Coupe.

With that quote one can only imagine what other names we will see! What do you think they will name the Z?

Written By: Michael

Pat H.

What could they possibly call the Z? There is no xDrive on the Z so nothing even remotely comes to mind. I can see already that this name change in going to be a pain in the a–.
Jon

Kinda odd, going to have to look into this regulation. Rather on what the politicians are thinking about on this one.

Just goes to prove that once I park that future e89 V8 M in my garage first thing that will happen is a serious de-badging lol.
Eliot R.

So are we going to see a Z4 ZDrive 3.0si? This new naming convention makes very little sense to me and needs to go away very quickly.
http://www.ausringers.com Liam

‘Due to upcoming U.S. regulations’ … wtf was wrong with X3, X5 etc???
http://bimmerfile.com Michael

I am not sure what lawmakers were thinking but I am sure it is meant to benefit consumers, how and why I am still searching for…
eager2own

Jon, debadging is the first thing that came to my mind too.
http://bimmerfile.com Michael

eager2own: debadging is the first thing that came to my mind

I think we should already begin a petition to get “debadging” as a factory option like they have it Europe, but I am sure there is some US regulation that prohibits new cars being delivered without the model designation.

You could end up with a lower model and not even know it without that badge…. lol but I could see that being the reason.
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Jon

I second that Micheal would be great to have a de-badging option, then again over the years have become somewhat of an expert lol. I would also say that anyone that needs the badge on their car to know what it is deserves being stuck with a Yugo
Dave

Due to upcoming U.S. regulations in effect for Model Year 2009

And what regulations would those be?
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9

Zdrive4? 3drive30i? What are you thinking BMW!?!?!?
http://bimmerfile.com Michael

BMW must have their hands tied with the new regulations. They have to follow the rules but at the same time they do not want to burn the model marketing they have already spent a bunch of money on…. so they have to tweak it a bit. I am sure we will see an evolution over time. It will only affect models with the engine in the name…. X5 3.0i may be called the X5 xDrive30i
http://Sonyrumors.net illegalprelude

so im confused. Does the law say that the engine info have to be in the name? is that the thing?
Drill

illegalprelude, I believe that the issue is that the engine displacement cannot be a part of the designation. i.e. X6 5.0 must now be the X6 XDrive 50. Perhaps we dumb Americans are supposed to be confused and somehow think that it’s really a 65.0L engine or something?? I’d love to see what the new regulations actually state, but so far Google hasn’t helped me much.
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