“The Neue Klasse is much more than just a car or a specific concept,” BMW chairman Oliver Zipse says. “It is redefining the BMW brand—and, at the same time, will be more BMW than ever.” Bear that in mind as you take in the Vision Neue Klasse X, a crisply modern concept that previews the car scheduled to replace the current iX3 when it goes on sale in about 18 months’ time.
The second Neue Klasse concept, following last year’s well-received E Ink sedan design study, the coming iX3 will be the first of six cars based on BMW’s new modular EV platform. About that name: Neue Klasse invokes the memory of the model that arrived in 1962 and whose success saved the company from an impending existential and fiscal crisis. It also established a design template that BMW evolved with celebrated acuity over the coming decades.
The company currently stands accused by some of bonfiring that legacy in pursuit of polarization. The new Neue Klasse philosophy aims to rein that in whilst also setting out a plan for an entirely new generation of all-electric BMWs—cars that supposedly will reimagine every aspect of the driving and ownership experience.
To put things in perspective, the Neue Klasse project represents the single biggest financial investment in BMW’s history.
BMWs Now Have a ‘Joy’ Brain
Much of this money has been spent on the technology that underpins it all. The Neue Klasse range will use the sixth generation of BMW eDrive tech, with new batteries in 75-, 90-, and 105-kWh capacities and an 800-volt electric architecture that will improve charging speeds by up to 30 percent.
The battery system has been developed in-house by BMW and uses newly designed liquid-cooled cylindrical cells, 95 mm or 120 mm in height depending on which model they’re fitted in. There’s more nickel in their composition but less cobalt compared with today’s batteries, and overall energy density is reportedly 20 percent improved.
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