BMW teased its first electric SUV on the new Neue Klasse architecture earlier this year, and now it has been spied testing ahead of a launch in 2025.
It will be one of several models on the new dedicated electric vehicle (EV) architecture, with BMW planning to roll out six Neue Klasse vehicles between 2025 and 2027, including both sedans and SUVs.
It has been designed to accomodate everything from small sedans up to full-sized SUVs.
This SUV will reportedly replace the current iX3, the electric version of the current X3.
The next X3, which will reportedly enter production in 2024, won’t offer the option of an electric powertrain and will instead offer only petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid power.
The Neue Klasse SUV, which could wear the iX330, iX340 and iX350 nameplates, is a lot more rounded in appearance than the rather upright iX3 – if arguably not to the same extreme as electric SUVs from rival Mercedes-Benz.
BMW’s design boss, Domagoj Dukec, has said he doesn’t want the brand’s designs to follow the likes of Chinese brands with fluid lines, and instead wants to offer its own distinctive look.
Like the Vision Neue Klasse sedan concept revealed earlier this year, which previews a 3 Series-sized production sedan, the SUV appears to have a crisp, forward-slanting ‘shark nose’ and a wide – instead of tall – iteration of BMW’s iconic double-kidney grille.
Another signature design cue that remains is BMW’s Hofmeister kink at the C-pillar, while the smooth, flowing side detailing and bulging tailgate are more like that of the BMW iX than today’s iX3.
When it launches in 2025, the new BMW SUV will rival the likes of the Audi Q6 e-tron and next-generation Mercedes-Benz EQC.
Unlike its fellow Germans, BMW hasn’t announced a cut-off date for production of internal combustion-powered vehicles and has instead committed to a multi-pathway strategy consisting of combustion, electric and hydrogen power.
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MORE: BMW won’t ditch petrol and diesel as electric revolution takes hold
