Internal Designations

Internal designations are created and used by the Engineering and Technical Development departments to identify a new model during the design of the car. The use of the internal designations carries over to the Technical Support groups after the car is produced. Internal designations refer to the entire vehicle series of a particular body design. (Example: E46 describes all 3 series cars of that design). BMW products start with an "E" and are followed by a two digit number. Not all design concepts make production, so internal designations are usually not sequential. Table 1.1 lists the internal designations, series number and the years produced.

The E designations often include an additional number separated by a slash (/). Example:

• E36/7- Z3 
• E36/5- 3 door touring 
• E46/3- Sport Wagon 
• E46/2- Coupe 
• E46/16- All-Wheel Drive 
• E46/5- 3 door touring