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It’s finally here, well, almost, after years of teasing with a series of Neue Klasse Concepts, the first-ever production car to ride on this all-new electric platform will finally be unveiled. Much has been said about BMW’s decision to revive the name “Neue Klasse,” but for those not steeped in the brand’s folklore, the original Neue Klasse was the name of a series of cars launched in the early 1960s. At the time (and almost impossible to imagine today), BMW was as far from the automotive juggernaut we know today as one could imagine, a company teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, with an uncertain future and a shaky model lineup.
At the time, BMW’s lineup was caught in a precarious split: on one end were tiny bubble cars like the Isetta, 600, and 700; on the other, expensive luxury sedans and coupes such as the 501/502 and the 507. What BMW sorely lacked was anything in the profitable middle market, and the company came dangerously close to being swallowed up by Mercedes-Benz.
The arrival of the Neue Klasse sports sedans changed everything. These cars didn’t just pull BMW back from the brink of bankruptcy; they laid the template for decades of success, cementing the sporty driving dynamics, clean design language, and brand identity that continue to define the Bavarian marque today. In short, the original Neue Klasse was the rebirth of BMW. So with BMW now reviving this sacred name, expectations are, to put it kindly, immense. But this is the modern-day BMW we’re talking about; they don’t do things by halves. By christening their latest EV platform Neue Klasse, it’s not just a nod to nostalgia; it’s a statement of intent. This is BMW signalling that we are not just witnessing another car launch, but another turning point for the brand, one that BMW proposes will be as pivotal as 1962.
So, what do we know so far about the next iX3?
Heart of Joy
The Neue Klasse will debut with a centrally coordinated software and hardware architecture, built around four high-performance onboard computers, or “superbrains”, with the most celebrated one aptly named the Heart of Joy. Together, they manage everything from driving dynamics to infotainment, automated functions, and more, all connected by a zonal wiring system designed to dramatically reduce complexity. In simpler terms, this should mean the car drives better, responds quicker, and feels more seamlessly “connected” than any EV BMW has built before. Whether it lives up to that promise, however, is something we’ll have to discover another day, as there are, unfortunately, no drive events planned at launch, although it will be interesting to dive deeper into this topic to see what else the “Heart of Joy’ has to offer. That being said, early test drives from other ,much more esteemed journalists paint a very positive picture.
Design direction
With the teaser already, er, teased. We can see BMW adopting a slightly different design direction for the iX3 to help set it apart from its X3 stablemate. The most noticeable change lies in the slimmer, more upright kidney grilles, a clear nod to the original Neue Klasse cars. In recent years, BMW has previewed several concept vehicles that share a clean, minimalistic design language, and it’s reasonable to expect this philosophy to carry through to the production model. What remains to be seen, however, is just how closely the iX3 will mirror its X3 sibling, and how its proportions and details will translate once viewed in natural light, under the beautiful skies of Bavaria.
Touchy feely
Inside, we can expect the angled iDrive screen to carry over, now paired with BMW’s new panoramic display, though no longer projected as the dramatic, full-width heads-up unit seen on earlier concepts. How well this new setup will be received remains to be seen, especially as it could signal the end of the much-loved iDrive controller as we know it. Then again, it’s worth remembering that the earliest iterations of iDrive were heavily criticised too, only to evolve into one of the most intuitive systems on the market, so perhaps it’s still too early for a definitive judgment. That said, speaking as a UI/UX designer with over two decades of experience, I can’t help but be wary. Full touchscreen systems, and touch-sensitive controls in particular, come with inherent flaws, chief among them the lack of tactile feedback, which are especially problematic when driving, where precision and minimal distraction are everything. Bring back buttons!
Architecture
While BMW’s shiny new platform comes wrapped in a fancy marketing name, peel back the gloss and at its core, it’s still a car, albeit one built on an all-new 800-volt architecture. This next-generation setup debuts BMW’s cylindrical battery cells, which promise around 20% higher energy density.
In practical terms, that translates to not just longer legs but much quicker pit stops too, with charging speeds said to improve by up to 30%. BMW is quoting up to 800 km on the WLTP cycle, which realistically should mean around 550–600 km under the stricter EPA test. Perhaps even more headline-worthy is the claim that you’ll be able to add roughly 350 km of range in just 10 minutes on a high-power charger — fantastic news if you’re in Germany, though perhaps less so for those of us back in Singapore.
Drivetrain options will range from single-motor rear-wheel drive to dual-motor all-wheel drive, with outputs spanning from a healthy 300 hp to nearly 600 hp for the M Performance models. Yes, that all but confirms a proper M60-badged variant, pushing the upper limits of what’s possible in a family SUV, electric or otherwise. Will BMW go all the way and give us an iX3M? Well, stranger things have happened… (Cough… cough… XM… cough…)
Production?
Early sources point to production being set to begin in late 2025 at BMW’s i Factory in Debrecen, Hungary. Guess where we’re headed straight after the iX3’s unveiling?
While that about covers the gist of what we know so far, I’ve no doubt there’ll be a massive info-dump once the event kicks off, the sort of thing I’ll need to sift through and make sense of. In the meantime, though, keep an eye out for the pictures!
