just got this from my RSS Feed:
The current issue of Motor Trend is reporting through the grapevine that BMW will drop the underground “e-code” nomenclature for its vehicles. The current 3-Series, for example, is known internally and by those who call themselves real car enthusiasts as the E90, the version sold between 1998 and 2005 the E46, and the generation before that the E36.
According to this Wikipedia article BMW has been using the “e-code” since at least the late Sixties, if not much longer. The “E” stands for Entwicklung, which in German means development or evolution.
MT is also reporting that the “E” will be replaced with an “F” and that the next 5-Series is already known internally as the F10. The next 7-Series due in 2009 will be called F01 and the LWB version F02.
I guess it kinda makes sense.. e90 for instance they just moved on to the next letter F10