Look Out, Tesla - BMW Is Coming For You - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM)

Tesla Motors IncTSLA

could face some stiff competition from BMW in as little as three years.

on a rumor from Germany's

magazine that the all-new BMW i5 could be available for sale at sometime in 2018. The i5 could get be equipped with different alternative fuel drivetrains, including a hydrogen fuel cell stack from its technology partner,

Toyota Motor CorpTM

. As information is still limited, the BMW i5 is assumed to be limited to 78 miles of EV range per charge. By comparison, Tesla's P85D model is available today and can travel over 250 miles on electricity alone. BMW is targeting annual sales of 30,000 i5 units with a price tag of around 100,000 euros ($106,000) – within the same ballpark of Tesla's P85D. Related Link:

Exclusive: Is Tesla Motors Really Paying Gigafactory Employees $25/Hour?

"Some of you might say 'A plug-in hybrid isn't an electric car rival!' but you're looking at it the wrong way," the blog

Clean Technica wrote. "Instead, think about it like this. Tesla builds luxury cars that happen to be electric. BMW builds luxury cars across a much wider range of models and drivetrains. They're still competing for the same buyers, the ones simply looking for an exciting-enough driving experience to drop a hundred-large on. Yes, there are buyers who ONLY want an all-electric car, but there are even more who still want the crutch of gasoline's convenience." Will BMW release a "Tesla killer" vehicle this decade that many are hoping for or is the company generations behind Tesla and its founder Elon Musk?

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