Yahoo Autos BMW Vision Neue Klasse Debuts at IAA Munich Showing BMW’s Future
BMW took the wraps off another all-electric Neue Klasse concept, this one at IAA Munich.
The car sports the same retro-cool proportions and promises the same techno-bonanza as the Vision Dee, revealed earlier this year at CES.
The first production Neue Klassen will arrive in 2025.
The first Neue Klasse cars debuted in the early 1960s and defined the BMW that we know even today. They included the 2002 tii, among others, and signaled an all-new approach to making cars, making them small, lightweight, tossable and fun. We got those cars all the way up to the present—consider the recently debuted, latest-gen M2.
Now, as BMW and the world embark on an electric future, it’s time for a new Neue Klasse, an all-electric one. Earlier this year we saw the BMW i Vision Dee at CES, a stylish sedan with color-shifting paint on the outside and a windshield-wide head up display on the inside that could expand to wrap the entire interior into a sort of Star Trek holodeck of immersive escapism.
The windshield-wide head up display, and much other tech, will be available on the next Neue Klasse when it debuts in 2025. Last weekend at the IAA in Munich, BMW unveiled another glimpse into the Neue Klasse future, the Vision Neue Klasse Design Concept.
Among many other insights, this stylish sedan is a reassuring gesture by BMW that the retro-cool proportions of the i Vision Dee, seen again on this Vision Neue Klasse, will make it into production when the first of the Neue Klasse automobiles goes into production in 2025. It also reminds us that the cars will be loaded with tech.
“The BMW Vision Neue Klasse combines our ability to innovate in the core areas of electrification, digitalization, and circularity,” says Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “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.”
The concept promises “30% more range, 30% faster charging, 25% more efficiency,” according to BMW. It will also be the debut of the next BMW iDrive, still controlled by a central knob but displayed on a wide head up display called Panoramic Vision instead of on a dash-mounted screen.
The concept is an EV, electrically driven at maximum efficiency, BMW says.
“High energy efficiency during the vehicle use phase will be ensured by optimizing weight, air and rolling resistance, as well as through intelligent heat management, especially for the electric drivetrain, using sixth-generation BMW eDrive technology.”
Newly developed round battery cells (BMW says round instead of cylindrical, which is intriguing) offer a claimed 20% higher energy density than the prism cells used in previous eBimmers.
The sixth-generation eDrive electric motors can charge 30% faster, move the Vision 30% further down the road, and increase overall efficiency by 25%, BMW says.
No more detailed specifics were forthcoming, leaving us to wonder exactly how powerful and fast the production Neue Klasse cars will be. But we like what we see so far.
What do you think of this evolution of BMW’s new Neue Klasse? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
