Yahoo Autos BMW Vision Neue Klasse X Revealed: Looking to the past to build a better future
The best way to demonstrate how much BMW styling and design will change over the next few years would be to park the new Vision Neue Klasse X next to one of the German automaker’s current SUVs, be it the X3, X5 or X7. One will be expressively styled to the point of polarization, with vents, openings and shapes pushed to their extremes up front, stretched like taffy in the center and boldly dynamic at the rear. The other would be the Neue Klasse X, which we recently got the chance to see and experience in person,.
We’ll spill plenty of virtual ink talking more about the Vision Neue Klasse X’s styling and design, but one thing is immediately clear: The old and new are so different in their execution that it’s hard to believe they emerged from the same studio.
What recent BMW fans may not know, however, is that the Neue Klasse, in both the sedan form we’ve already seen and in this more recent SUV shape, really represents a return to the German brand’s roots. Without diving too deep into history, it’s crucial to realize that this isn’t BMW’s first Neue Klasse (“New Class” in English). That title belongs to the 1962 BMW 1500, a car that revolutionized the marque’s midsize range and was by all counts a tremendous success. The original Neue Klasse was a full-on modernization in design, engineering, performance and style (it was designed by Wilhelm Hofmeister, whose trademark C pillar “kink” is forever memorialized in BMW design), and it marked an important turning point for BMW’s success on the global stage. It’s the car that led BMW to introduce its first E12 5 Series sedan in 1972.
Like the original it clearly references, the whole Vision Neue Klasse X story really revolves around the integration of its design, inside and out, and how it modernizes the way BMW is thinking about automobiles in the future. It’s a cohesive package, or to use BMW’s terminology, a vision into a harmonious look and feel that focuses on efficiency, sustainability, technology and customizability in seemingly equal amounts.
As we alluded to at the outset, only the very broadest of strokes connects the Neue Klasse X with BMW’s current SUV lineup. There may be kidney grilles and styling flourishes in some of the expected places — the Hofmeister kink is indeed there, but it’s part of a translucent and reflective application and not immediately obvious from all angles — but the overall look is extremely subdued when compared with BMW’s recent expressive styling. Starting up front, the two-part grille is immediately recognizable as a BMW shape, but it’s much smaller than we would expect, and instead of a chrome or black-out treatment it’s ringed with a smooth and vertically oriented lighting signature that will be unique to the X class of crossover. That grille is flanked by wide lights that span the whole width of the remaining space, overflowing to the front corners under one clear cover. The lighting elements behind the cover blend together in interesting patterns, with bars that criss-cross and form a three-dimensional shape.
The sides of the car are similarly restrained, but there’s plenty of contouring around the wheel arches and the bottoms of the doors to make the shape look interesting. Although the fenders look tall and appropriate for a crossover shape, there’s plenty of almost uninterrupted glass that conspires with the full glass roof to keep the Neue Klasse X modern and bright. Door handles are integrated into small pulls that are hidden away in the car’s thin and dark belt-line trim.
The rear of the vehicle may be its most characterful angle. The roof ends in almost buttress-shaped hoods that extend over the rear glass. The taillights are wide and horizontal with red slash-shaped elements that serve to bracket the familiar but toned-down BMW roundel badge. At the lower edge, a skid plate of sorts and black trim are the most outright callouts to any sort of off-road utility, though there looks to be solid ground clearance and short overhangs.
