Inception composer soundtracks the new BMW i4

It’s no ripping-silk twin-cam straight-six at 6,000rpm that’s for sure, but it doesn’t offend our ears. BMW says it was inspired by the past and future of BMW, and that the sound is “classic yet surprising and has a feeling of lightness that is fitting for the BMW brand.” What do you think?  If you haven’t heard it yet just click here to get an earful.

The electronic tone, which gently rises and falls in pitch and volume, has been composed specially for BMW by the composer Hans Zimmer and BMW sound designer Renzo Vitale. To show you how seriously the Bavarians are taking the new electric-car “soundscape”, they have given it its own branding: BMW IconicSounds Electric.

The sound is having its debut performance on the i4 Concept Gran Coupe and will feature on the production version of that new electric car when it arrives in 2021, a year after the first new-gen battery-powered model, the iX3 SUV, makes its debut later this year. Lots of other all-electric and plug-in hybrid BMWs are coming as well and they will all feature the electric soundscape as a standard feature.

As far as we understand it, the sound will play automatically whenever the car starts or stops “to imbue extra emotional depth by connecting the driver with the vehicle’s character”. There’s an acoustic accompaniment to opening a door as well, and the sound will change depending on which mode is chosen; BMW is promising more intense tones when “Sport” is selected.

 “The ability to design the sound in our vehicles makes it possible for us to spark positive emotions,” Renzo Vitale tells us. “The new start/stop sound is intended to instil a sense of excitement at the prospect of electric driving.”