BMW has fired the starting gun on the race to produce the next smash-hit electric saloon car, showing off the Neue Klasse concept at the IAA motor show in Munich.
This is, in its essentials, BMNW’s new electric saloon, 3 Series-sized, which will launch in 2025. On the looks front alone, it’s already a winner and while this car is most definitely a concept, we are being told that the styling is very, very close indeed to what will go on sale in two years’ time.
That is to be welcomed for the grille alone, which isn’t a grille at all — actually it’s an LED display screen — but which returns, thankfully, to the slim, wide BMW kidney-grilles of old. In fact, much of the Neue Klasse’s styling is a bit of a throwback. There are distinct overtones of late-seventies and early-eighties BMWs in the overall silhouette of the car, even if the detailing is bang up to date.
Hopefully, the car’s roof and window structure — which gives it big windows and screen and relatively slim pillars — will also survive the journey to production.
Inside, BMW has given the Neue Klasse a brightly-colours, airy interior. The front seats sit on bracket arms that attach to the floor, which are said to liberate more cabin space, especially for those sitting in the back.
The biggest change is to the dashboard. A new-generation of iDrive infotainment lives and functions on a central screen that’s no longer a square nor a rectangle, but instead something of an offset rhombus.
Way more important than an oddly-shaped touchscreen is the fact that the Neue Klasse does without a driver’s instrument panel. Instead, there’s a shallow, full-width heads-up-display — called BMW Panoramic Vision — on the windscreen, which is fully interactive and which might actually make sense of the thus-far gimmicky idea of ‘gesture control’. This isn’t a concept car flourish, either — its intended for that new 2025 car.
Of course, the Neue Klasse is fully-electric, and BMW says that the production version will launch with its sixth generation cylindrical batteries which will offer 30 per cent faster charging, and 30 per cent longer range. Taking the current i4 eDrive40 as a starting point, that would give the Neue Klasse a theoretical range, assuming it launches with the same 80kWh battery size, of more than 750km on one charge.
Back in 1962, the originall ‘Neue Klasse’ saved BMW from bankruptcy. Designed by the great Wilhelm Hofmeister, who’s distinctive rear-window ‘kink’ is still worn by every BMW today (including this concept) the 1500 saloon (the ‘New Class’ bit was more of a nickname) turned around BMW’s fortunes. Eventually, the design would morph into the 1602 and 2002, and the original 3 Series. Since then, BMW has simply gone from strength to strength.
When this concept Neue Klasse becomes a fully-fledged production model, due to be built in Hungary in a carbon-neutral factory from 2025, will it do the same for BMW in the electric era?
“30 per cent more range, 30 per cent faster charging, 25 per cent more efficiency – the Neue Klasse represents a major technological leap that will take EfficientDynamics to new heights. The same applies to its design – which could not be any more futuristic,” said Frank Weber, BMW’s head of development. “With the Neue Klasse, we have embarked on the biggest investment in the company’s history. We are not just writing the next chapter of BMW; we’re writing a whole new book. That’s why the Neue Klasse will certainly impact all model generations.”
“The BMW Vision Neue Klasse combines our ability to innovate in the core areas of electrification, digitalisation and circularity,” said Oliver Zipse, BMW’s chairperson. “In this way, we are always able to stay two steps ahead of the future: The Neue Klasse is already bringing the mobility of the next decade to the roads in 2025 – and leading BMW into a new era.”
