BMW desires you to know that issues are altering. In fall of 2023, the corporate unveiled the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse idea automobile, an all-electric sedan that previews the design and engineering we are able to anticipate from a brand new era of BMW automobiles. In the present day, BMW debuts the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X, the crossover member of the brand new EV household. As a result of whereas BMW insists it’s on the precipice of a paradigm shift, it’s not about to desert its in style and worthwhile “sports activities exercise automobiles.”
The “Neue Klasse” title is freighted with that means for BMW fanatics. The corporate first coined this moniker—which is solely German for “new class”—within the early Sixties, making use of it to a brand-new lineup of sporty, modernist sedans. The Neue Klasse spawned the legendary BMW 2002, and saved the corporate from the brink of extinction.
Fashionable BMW is not existentially threatened the best way it was within the early Sixties, however the firm faces a dramatically evolving international auto trade. BMW has toyed with EVs and hybrids for years now, however the brand new Neue Klasse idea lineup factors to a full-scale re-envisioning of how a BMW seems, works, and drives.
If the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse idea sedan is tomorrow’s 3 Collection, the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X seen right here might be understood as tomorrow’s X3.
“Along with the BMW Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse, the BMW Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X showcases the breadth of our future BMW mannequin lineup,” stated Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Administration of BMW AG, in a press release. “On this method, we’re underlining that the Neue Klasse is rather more than only a automobile or a selected idea; it’s redefining the BMW model—and, on the identical time, will probably be extra BMW than ever.”
Meaning this high-riding crossover must carry out. BMW is bringing a brand new, EV-specific software program technique to the duty. Within the typical internal-combustion automobile, every system—engine, transmission, stability administration, adaptive suspension—is managed by its personal ECU. Tweaking the automobile’s efficiency in real-time includes a lot of communication between these discrete computer systems.
BMW says the Neue Klasse platform will do away with typical system-specific ECUs in favor of “super-brains”—”high-performance computer systems working well collectively on what, up till now, was processed individually,” stated Frank Weber, member of the Board of Administration of BMW AG, in a press assertion. Every super-brain may have as much as 10 instances the computing energy of a traditional ECU.
This can permit one super-brain to regulate all aspects of driving dynamics, from torque supply to traction administration to suspension habits or drive-mode changes. One other super-brain will deal with all elements of automated driving, from the sensor suite to GPS route navigation to steering and braking. BMW guarantees that this super-brain setup will enhance processing energy and velocity, whereas simplifying the digital structure of the automobile and lowering the dimensions (and weight) of required {hardware}.
“The outcome will probably be extra dynamic efficiency, extra precision, extra effectivity and much more enjoyable to drive,” Weber stated in his assertion.
BMW says the Neue Klasse EVs will use an all-new sixth-generation model of the corporate’s eDrive propulsion expertise. New, spherical lithium-ion batteries promise 20 % extra power density than the present prismatic cells, and BMW says the Neue Klasse automobiles will use 800-volt structure for speedy charging, enabling 186 miles of battery vary with a 10-minute plug-in. Energy and efficiency figures weren’t given for the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X.
Probably the most placing facet of the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X is its design. Just like the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse idea sedan, the X’s physique contours are refreshingly easy. The kidney grille, which was squashed and widened on the Neue Klasse sedan, stands tall right here, a signature that BMW says will distinguish its Sport Exercise Automobile fashions from its typical sedans within the all-electric future.
The silhouette is acquainted as a BMW crossover, however the greenhouse is impressively ethereal, partly because of some tough proportioning: The A- and B-pillars are tapered on their exterior edges, skinny and spindly from the skin however flaring out to standard thickness. In fact, the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X has a Hofmeister kink—a Neue Klasse design signature—although right here it’s represented by a ghostly reflective appliqué on the rear quarter home windows.
Inside, the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X embraces newfound minimalism, regardless of promising an entire new stage of perpetually-connected telecom integration. Relaxation in peace, iDrive: With the Neue Klasse, BMW desires you to regulate the center-dash show by contact or by way of controls on the steering wheel.
A second full-width show on the base of the windshield exhibits velocity, battery standing, and different info you’d usually discover on a driver’s instrument panel, which BMW says will probably be augmented by a head-up show. Apart from a tiny assortment of bodily buttons on the middle console, the complete cockpit is basically button-free.
As with final yr’s Neue Klasse idea sedan, the X options “Verdana” textile upholstery, which is claimed to be plant-and-mineral-based and utterly petroleum free. The injection-molded inside elements are stated to be made out of recycled maritime plastics. The coral shade of the corduroy-like upholstery, coupled with the large panorama roof and the beneficiant greenhouse, give the inside of the X an invitingly ethereal really feel.
In particular person, the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X looks like a midway step between a flight-of-fancy idea automobile and a ready-for-production machine. The headlights and taillights really feel like show-car stuff, and a BMW consultant admitted that the manufacturing inside might want to have a number of extra bodily controls than what’s on show right here. However the door handles and latches, the physique stampings, and the daylight openings all appear factory-ready—which they higher be, since BMW is promising that the primary Neue Klasse crossover will go into manufacturing in 2025.
Whether or not you consider this as a wholly new class of automobiles or not, one factor is for certain: The all-electric way forward for BMW will probably be outlined by SUVs that, I’m betting, will look quite a bit like what you see right here.
