Electrification is opening entirely new worlds to automakers. Electric car platforms are incredibly versatile and allow car companies to get far more creative with body styles, model types, and interior designs than ever before. Which is why you’re starting to see more and more new model types coming from different automakers and the latest is Audi, who is working on a rugged electric SUV that could rival the Mercedes G-Class, Land Rover Defender, and Rivian R1S. With such a rugged Audi on the market, that leaves BMW as the only member of the Big German Three without a rugged SUV. So should BMW come up with something to match them?
Following Rivian?
Realistically, yes. BMW should be competing with its rivals with rugged SUVs because customers are starting to realize that, with electric SUVs, they can get rugged utility without sacrificing comfort and performance. The Rivian R1S proves that you can truly have your cake and eat it, too thanks to EVs. The next-generation electric G-Glass is also going to likely set new benchmarks in utility and luxury. While Audi is going to be a very interesting player in the game and it has to do with its parent company, Volkswagen.
VW owns Scout, the iconic American SUV and truck maker. There hasn’t been a Scout since Reagan was president but VW is brining the brand back with an all electric SUV built on a new architecture. That same architecture will likely be used by Audi as the basis of its own rugged SUV. So it will very likely be a shockingly capable but also stylish and premium electric SUV. That’s something that many customers, especially in America, can get behind.
If you’re thinking that BMW shouldn’t do such things, as it’s a sporty brand and must only make driver’s cars, just wait until you hear about the X5, X6, X7, 2 Series Active Tourer, and 1 Series hatchback. None of those cars can realistically be considered sporty driver’s cars and BMW makes them anyway. Why? Because they make BMW money. When BMW’s most powerful car in history is a plug-in hybrid SUV that weighs over three tons, what’s wrong with BMW making an SUV that’s actually good at being an SUV? It would absolutely make BMW money and likely lots of it.
With the Neue Klasse architecture, BMW will absolutely have the room in its lineup, and the manufacturing ability, to make an SUV about X5-sized that’s every bit as rugged as something like a Rivian. With customers starting to realize that they can have EVs that have multiple strengths, and brands like Mercedes, Audi, Rivian, and Volkswagen giving them such vehicles, BMW should absolutely do it too.
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