BMW Vision Neue Klasse X First Look: An Ultra-Important Electric SUV

The BMW Vision Neue Klasse concept is cool, a car that suggests BMW’s next generation of EVs will have some of the taut, sporty spirit of the cars that kickstarted “The Ultimate Driving Machine” legend. But the Vision Neue Klasse X concept is a way more important vehicle. Why? Because it showcases what the forthcoming lineup of electric-powered BMW SUVs will look like. And for BMW, like most other automakers, SUVs are where the real money is made these days.

BMW has sold more than 12 million X-badged SUVs since the launch of the original X5 in 1999, and midsize SUVs are today one of the most popular vehicles on the market worldwide. That’s why production versions of the Neue Klasse X will start rolling off the line at BMW’s Debrecen plant in Hungary in 2025, before the Neue Klasse sedan.

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How close will the production Neue Klasse X look to this concept? “My mother won’t see the difference,” smiles Kai Langer, head of BMW i Design. Sure, the concept’s slim pillars and glassy roof wouldn’t pass crash test requirements; the production model’s will be much more robust. But the cutlines in the bodywork show the front and rear bumpers are real, and there’s room under the windshield to package wipers. In terms of form, volume, and surfacing, the Neue Klasse X concept is close to what we’ll see on the road late next year.

And that’s good news. Recent BMWs have often suffered from a surfeit of surface entertainment. The Vision Neue Klasse X looks cleaner and more confident, with muscular fenders connected by a concave bodyside with a single, resolute character line across its lower third. Notably, the low beltline makes the greenhouse look exceptionally airy. Even with thicker, crash-worthy pillars and doors with framed windows, all-round visibility promises to be good.

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We’ll also see a cool rendition of the classic double kidney grille, complete with its illuminated frame, on the production model. Unlike the pig-nose snout of the M4 coupé or the glittery palace gates that announce the arrival of a 7 Series, the Neue Klasse X grille looks bold but not overbearing. Its long, narrow format is a nod to the grille design on the original 1960s Neue Klasse cars.

The rear light graphic is terrific, the large red lozenges housed in bodywork pulled out from the backlight. The sunken surface between them echoes the dip in the spoiler over the rear window, which in turn references the sunken center section of the hood. Seen from above, these three elements subtly tie together the whole car.

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You won’t see that sofa-like back seat in the production Neue Klasse X, though production cars will be available with the expressively stitched woven cloth made from recycled materials. Based on the executions we’ve seen using similar materials in the new Mini Countryman, expect some striking combinations of color and texture in the production Neue Klasse X.

The overall architecture of the interior is close to production, including the arching center console. The super-clean dash is dominated by a large central touch screen whose landscape parallelogram format—with truncated corners at the upper left and lower right, and slanted graphic layout—combine to create a faux perspective that from some angles suggests a box floating in space.

The pillar-to-pillar information display projected on the dark area between the top of the dash and the base of the windshield will also be seen on production versions of the Neue Klasse X. That display, dubbed Panoramic Vision, is, says Jörn Freyer, vice president of user experience development, “a reinterpretation of BMW’s core focus on driver and passenger. The experience is no longer exclusive to the driver.”

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There will be no iDrive controller, as the Neue Klasse X will debut BMW’s “New iDrive.” “This is a big statement,” concedes senior UI/UX designer Olivier Pilrat. But that doesn’t mean BMW is heading for the same reductive extremism as Tesla. “For other functionalities there will be knobs where they are needed,” he says. iDrive will be controlled via buttons on a production version of the Neue Klasse X concept’s steering wheel.

Apart from handling all the usual functions, New iDrive will allow Neue Klass X owners to digitally customize their cars. The central display, for example, can be color-keyed to the rest of the interior, and the car’s electronic sound altered by sliding your fingers over a four-axis digital grid that controls tone and pitch. Olivier Pilrat says BMW’s research suggests digital customization will be popular not only among Chinese and Korean buyers, but also Americans.

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The new software stack developed in-house at BMW for the Neue Klasse EVs will also interact with some interesting new hardware. The Neue Klasse X’s mechanicals will be controlled by two “super brains,” the first of what will be four powerful ECUs BMW plans to ultimately integrated into a single high-performance computer.

One of the Neue Klasse ECUs integrates the powertrain and driving dynamics and boasts 10 times the computing power of any previous control unit. The other enables Level 2 and Level 3 autonomous driving, and even Level 4 in markets that allow it, says BMW’s head of driving experience, Andreas Stumm.

BMW hasn’t said much about the Neue Klasse powertrains, but Stumm says the new powertrain and dynamics ECU can control up to four e-motors, which gives you an idea of what to expect when BMW’s M Division starts playing with this new EV platform. An 800V electrical architecture will deliver 30 percent faster charge times, and a 30 percent increase in battery power density means a 20 percent increase in driving range.

“We are taking the essence of BMW and transforming it into the future” says BMW board member for customer, brands, and sales, Jochen Goller, who claims the Neue Klasse program represents the biggest investment in BMW history.