The i3 and i8 were prescient precursors. The i4, iX and i7 moved the idea of an all-electric BMW center stage. Now things get real, for the numbers don’t lie. The i5 replaces one of the Bavarian behemoth’s heartland cars, the 5 series, a 10-million-plus bestseller across seven previous generations since 1972.
This is arguably the definitive BMW, a classy but entertaining European sports sedan aspired to by pretty much anyone with a hint of petrol in their veins. Now that fuel is changing—and much else besides.
We’re in the basement parking garage of a building in Lisbon, home to up to 2,000 software engineers