In just two years, BMW will show the first production car from the upcoming groundbreaking Neue Klasse series. It will only have an electric drive, super-fast charging and also a new external appearance. It was first hinted at by the January concept and the Vision Dee, a better idea of what the Munich automaker’s electric cars will look like, but only the Vision Neue Klasse concept gives. It is shown at the Munich Motor Show.
It’s actually a more civilized version of the Vision Dee concept from earlier this year, which was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While at that time it was mainly a demonstration of technology and virtual reality, in the case of the Vision Neue Klasse, BMW is already showing off the curves of the upcoming model much more. We do not know the dimensions of the concept, but it is clear that it is a car roughly the size of the current 3 series.
It is the middle-class sedan that will be the first representative of the Neue Klasse series, but a number of body versions are to follow – of course, including SUVs. BMW also boasted at a press presentation in Garching, near Munich, that the SUV should consume a quarter less than the current iX3 and the sedan a fifth less than the current i4. Combined with a new battery and platform, better aerodynamics and other innovations, this should mean one thing: a significant increase in range per charge. The brand claims up to a thirty percent improvement.
BMW also promises faster charging. The new platform is to have an 800V architecture similar to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6, Kia EV6 or Porsche Taycan. In practice, the Munich car should thus have enough energy for a 300 kilometer drive in ten minutes.
The design transformation of future electric BMWs will also be significant. Kidneys in their classic form? Forget it, here their imitation is directly connected to the headlights. The Vision Neue Klasse concept has an illuminated mask as well: “We want to replace chrome with light,” explains Kai Langer, chief designer of the BMW i electrical division, about the “kidney” shape.
For the concept and Vision Dee, the mask – as well as other parts of the body – were made up of surfaces with E Ink technology, which changed color thanks to electrophoresis. With a single exception, you will no longer find these surfaces in a new car. This is the window line, where the color-changing strip helps to define, for example, where the door opening is. The Vision Neue Klasse does not have classic handles. “And even here this technology replaces chrome,” adds the designer.
Also, the wheels are already classic, they are 21 inches and quietly announce from the front that the novelty is not far from the production version.
The concept of the top line of the door is interesting. As Langer revealed, it is at the same height as the first series 3 with the type designation E30. The new model takes inspiration from the past here and there, for example the BMW Garmisch concept from 1970 or the models from the original Neue Klasse series, to which the negative slope of the front part refers, among other things. “It’s a real BMW, just with slightly different proportions,” says the designer.
In addition to the exterior design, the concept also shows a new concept of the interior, which will be characterized by a panoramic display with gesture control across the entire width of the dashboard in its upper part. Olivier Pitrat, who takes care of the user interface for the concepts, confirmed that a similar element is also planned for serial production. At the same time, the car with it will have no problem meeting all safety regulations (they are problematic, for example, with rotating central screens) and it will not lose the classic head-up display either.
What many people will probably notice at first glance in the interior is the absence of a combined iDrive rotary control. “However, customers will not miss it,” Kai Langer is sure. As BMW said at the beginning of the year, their philosophy is “hands on the wheel, eyes on the road”. In other words, the effort to eliminate possible distractions from driving as much as possible.
The on-board system of the car, by the way, the computing power of the Neue Klasse is supposed to be up to twenty times higher than that of the current SUV iX, because it is supposed to learn and try to make the driver’s job as easy as possible. As part of the connection with the mobile phone, the system will, for example, remember what the driver was playing at home before leaving, and will seamlessly follow up on this song. The missing buttons should also be replaced by voice control, and the new BMW should finally understand Czech.
Unlike the January one and the Vision Dee, the novelty is also much more conventional inside, offering for example a classic central screen. At the same time, thanks to the light upholstery, the passengers have the feeling that they are sitting in the living room. This was the intention of the Munich designers, after all, the materials and upholstery of the seats and dashboard with different types of fabric also correspond to this. Forget leather, like chrome, it’s becoming less and less popular in the automotive world.
A factory in Debrecen, Hungary, is growing directly for Neue Klasse cars. However, BMW representatives still do not want to resent combustion engines either: the automaker predicts that electric cars will make up “only” half of sales worldwide in 2030. In Europe, the number should be slightly higher. At the same time, however, it is assumed that it is also ready for markets where the demand will only be for plug-in cars.
2023-09-02 08:30:36
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