BMW has dropped a new video to preview the next-generation iX3 ahead of the electric SUV’s world premiere in 2025. The teaser comes mere days before the unveiling of the Vision Neue Klasse X, a conceptual version of the EV that will spearhead the brand’s electric ambitions. Since the big debut of the road-going model is still many months away, the prototypes are heavily camouflaged to conceal the real design.
Just about everything will be new about the iX3. Carrying the “NA5” internal codename, the zero-emission SUV will be underpinned by the Neue Klasse platform. It’s BMW’s first-ever architecture developed from the ground up exclusively for EVs. The revamped hardware will come along with sixth-generation round batteries featuring 20% higher energy density, 30% faster charging, and 30% extra range compared to prismatic cells currently used on the company’s electric cars.
Although these prototypes are fully disguised, the 2023 Vision Neue Klasse sedan hinted at a fresh design language with a minimalist approach. The SUV concept debuting this Thursday (March 21) should be a window into the future of the next-gen iX3. The simplified look will continue inside where NK-based models will have few conventional controls. Most functions will be accessed through a central touchscreen and by using keys on the steering wheel.
The iDrive controller won’t be installed in the next wave of EVs, which also won’t have a conventional driver’s display. Instead, a newly developed Panoramic Vision will serve as a massive head-up display as wide as the dashboard. Later this decade, this HUD technology will also trickle down to CLAR models powered by combustion engines.
BMW will get the ball rolling with the Neue Klasse platform in mid-2025 when series production of this iX3 is scheduled to begin at the Debrecen plant in Hungary. Roughly a year later, the i3 sedan will hit the assembly line in Munich. No fewer than six models underpinned by this architecture are planned to come out by 2028. Additional factories in Germany, Mexico, and China will also produce NK-based vehicles in the latter half of the decade.
Source: BMW Group / YouTube
