The second car in BMW’s Neue Klasse electrical car sequence is at the moment present process cold-weather testing in preparation for its debut in 2026. BMW started pre-production of the primary Neue Klasse mannequin, a compact crossover, again in November and lately introduced that it will likely be unveiled on the 2025 Munich auto present in September. The corporate has additionally confirmed the title iX3 for this preliminary mannequin, which reuses a reputation initially related to an electrical model of the X3 that was by no means bought within the U.S.
Simply two days earlier than this announcement, BMW shared a video on Instagram showcasing an electrical sedan being examined in Sweden. This second mannequin within the Neue Klasse lineup is anticipated to hold the BMW 3-Collection badge and should probably be named the i3, bringing again the title of the modern electrical hatchback that represented BMW’s first critical effort within the quantity electrical automotive market.
The unique i3, which was launched in 2013 and halted manufacturing in 2022, was recognized for its distinctive tall-and-narrow design and unconventional engineering. This included a physique construction partially constructed from carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. Over its 9 years of manufacturing, greater than 250,000 models of the i3 had been produced.
The discontinuation of the i3 left BMW and not using a small, entry-level electrical car, a spot the automaker goals to fill, in keeping with improvement boss Frank Weber in a 2023 interview. Weber emphasised that the successor to the i3 wouldn’t function the “polarizing design” of its predecessor. The brand new mannequin is predicted to current a extra standard sedan form and minimalist styling, as hinted at by an idea automotive revealed in 2023.
The Neue Klasse, named after the sequence of fashions that helped revitalize BMW within the Nineteen Sixties, signifies a brand new period in electrical car engineering for the corporate. BMW has been teasing numerous technical facets of this new technology, together with an 800-volt electrical structure, a transition to cylindrical battery cells, entrance induction motors, and a chassis-control unit known as Coronary heart of Pleasure.
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