Why the New BMW 3 Series EVs and ICE Cars Basically Look the Same

We’re well into the second and third generations of automakers’ all-electric cars, and needless to say, many are hitting their stride. BMW will soon roll out its latest battery-electric portfolio incorporating its Neue Klasse technologies, and the automaker is done making its EVs look weird, funky, and different from the rest of its cars. At least, for mainstream and high-selling models like the new 2027 BMW 3 Series, which you can read all about right here.

At a product preview event in Munich, Germany, BMW design boss Adrian van Hooydonk said during a roundtable interview that the automaker feels both EVs and internal-combustion cars should all broadly share a similar design language in spite of a difference in powertrain.

“At the moment, we feel we're entering a decisive stage where we want to make electric mobility more agreeable to our customers,” he said. “We're going to deal with range anxiety, charging anxiety, all that. Design can contribute.”

The all-electric BMW i3 50 xDrive in Le Castellet Blue.

The 2027 BMW M350 xDrive.

Van Hooydonk makes a great point. The pioneer stage of EVs, where people were willing to accept unusual-looking cars for the sake of early adoption, is over. Automakers need to appeal to mainstream audiences if they want their EVs to take off in earnest.

“At the same time, we don't want to split the portfolio through the middle,” van Hooydonk continued. “So, the design language that you've seen will be applied to combustion engine vehicles as well. BMW has spoken about technology openness and that will remain so. We want to offer Neue Klasse design, Neue Klasse user interface, and Neue Klasse technology to the combustion-engine cars, [too]. Because with Neue Klasse as a kickoff, we want to change the look and feel of the entire brand, and leave the choice of drivetrain up to our customers.”

This is why the all-electric i3 is nearly indistinguishable from the gasoline-powered 3 Series, and nothing like the little hatchback from a few years back with the same name. Save for some slightly bigger dimensions to account for differences in vehicle architecture and a lack of tailpipes, you really cannot tell one sedan from the other. BMW started this trend with its relatively normal-looking i5 BEV sedan.

The all-electric 2027 BMW i3 xDrive in Alpine White.

The 2027 BMW M350 xDrive.

It’s a different design approach than the one Mercedes-Benz is currently taking, whose EVs are characterized by distinctive front- and rear-end aesthetics.

The modern Neue Klasse cars represent the largest leap for BMW since its last Neue Klasses models arrived in the 1960s, and it needs them to be a success. Designing its EVs to be similar to its cars with more familiar powertrains is a good way to get consumers to think about them that way, too.