BMW New Class UWE FISCHER
new class
Suddenly I’m really looking forward to landing in Munich. If the motor show this year features nothing but BMW’s new Vision Neue Klasse, it looks like that alone will be worth the trip.
If you ask me, more has happened to BMW’s two-wheelers in the last two years than to cars.
Admittedly, we have had two exciting concepts, in Vision Circular at the amputee IAA two years ago, and in Vision Dee at CS at the turn of the last year.
Good enough, but we haven’t noticed a single echo from them – BMW has continued its solid course and has completely forgotten that they were insanely ahead of the curve with their i3 and i8 – cars that would have outshone most of what calls itself avant garde in day and which is still light years away from what the Chinese are doing.
New hope
But with the little I have so far seen of the Vision Neue Klasse to be shown at this year’s (even more amputated?) IAA, hope is rekindled.
On the one hand, it looks radical – there is a lot here that does not match – fortunately – according to classic recipes. It’s almost like I think the head of design, Adrian van Hooydonk, said something clever this time: “This one is so progressive that it looks like we’ve skipped a whole model generation”.
BMW gives hints about the digital future
This is design anarchy in line with what Chris Bangle achieved when he managed the colored pencils at BMW.
It was time we got back there.
The future
But it is obvious that this is more than a new design, this is a completely new philosophy that will underlie future BMW generations which hopefully will not lie too far ahead.
When they use the name “Neue Klasse” they remind those who want to remember 1961 and the launch of what was then Neue Klasse. 1500 and everything that followed, as a replacement for the baroque angels and micro cars.
It was the Neue Klasse that saved BMW from ruin and put the brand on the map.
The situation is not as dramatic today – just almost. And a radical mindset will hopefully be able to create a new path in the new gruel.
Scalable matrix
The fact that this is the size of the 3-Series is certainly not accidental, it is probably the segment that is perhaps best equipped to receive something unexpected. But it is obvious that what lies beneath here is scalable from modest 1 series to mammoth sevens (Lord forbid!).
This is not a platform, this is a matrix.
I expect that the exhibition will give me greater opportunities to map out what is really hiding under the new wardrobe – but it is quite clear that this is pure battery electricity – it will never see any hybrid or combustion.
The interior also looks like there’s never been a dead cow or a tile nailer around – this is vegan and recycled, and extremely attractive. If the indent changes when I get to sit in, I promise to report it.
This is what a BMW city car could look like in 2040
But of course the simple harmony is ruined by a large screen here too. Why on earth, when it also offers a panoramic HUD (which is obviously more production-ready than the car itself)?
Light decor
Both inside and out, this is a car that practices the new truth that light is the new chrome.4
Not too much has been said about specifications, but BMW is already talking about consumption 30 percent better than what is common today, and a new ventilated floor and other smart thermal management will obviously mean progress.
More details in a few days.
But one of the things that is more than just a little interesting is that this concept has been developed in parallel with the brand new i-factory in Debrecen, Hungary, where the first cars will roll out in November next year.
I get a very happy feeling that they have brought back the original i mindset from fifteen years ago. The one that wasn’t about something as banal as just a car, but about a complete ecosystem.
2023-09-03 10:11:00
#Bravo #BMW #happening
