BETTER PARTSBMW will again offer a cheap, electric entry-level model with the Neue Klasse
There will be a successor to the i3, but better looking
BMW has been working on electric cars since 2007. The brand started with a cheap entry-level model: the BMW i3. When we first drove it ten years ago, we still called BMW i an 'eco-bio-sustainable-environmental-anti-CO2-and-other-scary-exhaust-conditions-that-gives-butterflies-crushing-cough-sub-brand' . At the time, the usefulness of EVs was heavily criticized. And now… actually it still is.
After more than a decade of plugging in, the i3 is still the only real small EV. The smallest after the i3 is the iX1. The electric models are not very affordable either. The cheapest is the same X1 with a starting price of more than 48,000 euros. The most expensive, the i7 M70, goes for around €200,000. This should change with the next electric generation of BMWs, the Neue Klasse.
Frank Weber is the development director at BMW and talks about the new class with Automobilwoche . BMW wants to offer customers 'the best possible access' to the brand. “That is why we are thinking very carefully about how we are going to approach the Neue Klasse family,” says Weber. There is room within the plan for a successor to the i3. Fortunately, this car does not have the design language of the first electric BMW.
Not a repeat of the BMW i3
'At first this vehicle [the BMW i3] was not only popular. Many people liked it, but in the eyes of others it was not a real BMW. A bit of an outsider in the class, if you like," Weber says. It is not entirely clear whether the compact Bimmer will look like the Vision Circular or the Vision Dee. Weber also does not discuss a target price. According to him, there is undoubtedly a need for 'affordable, compact offerings from BMW'.
Will the cheap BMW look like this or as the Neue Klasse prescribes? We will have to wait a little longer for the answer | Photo: © BMW
This is how BMW will soon launch the Neue class
Weber also explains how the Neue Klasse will soon come onto the market. First up is an 'SUV in the X3 format', followed by a 3-series sedan and another four models. 'You can easily imagine that a lot can be created from the middle [segment], both for smaller vehicles and for larger vehicles.' All this will start in 2025. See you then, i3 successor!