First sight:BMW iX3 – Neue Klasse 2.0 

A whole new era of BMW design starts here. We’ve had numerous concepts and tech announcements in the run up to its Neue Klasse rebirth, but this brand new iX3 finally launches the production reality at the IAA in Munich. A fitting location for one of the biggest moments in recent BMW history.

The first iteration of Neue Klasse saved the brand in the 1960s and carved out the template for nigh on every BMW that’s followed. This second coming may not be quite as crucial for the brand’s fortunes, but the crystal ball gazing it allows shouldn’t be ignored. 

But what will interest casual observers most are its looks. BMW’s styling team has sparked plentiful debate over the last decade, but no one can say they didn’t see this new iX3 coming. Its resemblance to the Vision Neue Klasse X concept is stark, just the pragmatic addition of side mirrors, door handles and a more defined lighting signature truly signalling its transition from dream to reality.

It appears quite monolithic in person, its narrow kidney ‘grilles’ – an obvious callback to those original Neue Klasse saloons, now etched with light rather than chrome – contributing to the muscular, upright feel buyers crave in an SUV. The saloons and estates that will follow will use a more squat, horizontal interpretation with the other Vision Neue Klasse concept providing strong clues of how the upcoming i3 will look. 

Its smooth surfacing combines with complex underbody work to carve out a 0.24 drag coefficient, equalling the smaller i4 saloon. This launch iX3 50 xDrive sends 469hp through all four wheels for a brisk 4.9sec dash to 62mph, but more crucially a stocky 108kWh battery combines with the aerodynamics for a near doubling in range over the old iX3, the new WLTP claim being a conveniently round 500 miles. Enough to win over a few EV sceptics, you’d hope…

“The aerodynamic targets were quite high from our perspective, so everyone had to contribute,” says Neue Klasse head of design, Oliver Heilmer. “The way the mirrors are treated and the fact we have flush door handles contributes a lot, as does the alloy wheel design. It plays a lot with closed areas but BMW customers always want to see the brake calipers, so we had to achieve both.”

At its heart is a new, bespoke electric platform with sixth-generation eDrive technology. Like every element of the car, it’s cleaner, sharper and more efficient than what came before, enough for this new iX3 to boast a 34 per cent smaller carbon footprint than its forebear over 124,000 miles. Around a third of the car is constructed from second-life materials, with its new 58-litre frunk utilising 100 per cent recycled matter. Production begins later in 2025 at the new Debrecen plant in Hungary, whose default running is via renewable energy.

While 20in alloy wheels come as standard, the optional 22s with ‘Air Performance’ trim (pictured) eke out another 15 miles of range. And though BMW drivers apparently love to see their brakes peeking from beneath, 98 per cent of the new iX3’s braking can be done purely on regen. Four super computers beneath its skin aim to help it drive as well as the traditionalists hope, despite BMW’s claims of quantum leaps in nearly every area. The car has, in their words, ‘skipped a generation’.

A point perhaps most evident inside. Again, the production iX3 clings close to its concept, though you can swap in a more conventionally shaped steering wheel if you so wish. Of most note is the loss of an instrument cluster in lieu of a new, customisable 43-inch ‘Panoramic Vision’ projection extended from pillar to pillar. A central, hexagonal 18-inch touchscreen is angled towards the driver – ensuring differing designs for left- and right-hand drive cars – drawing frequently prodded functions to an area more safely reached from the ‘wheel.

Though a starter button has been ditched, the indicators and wipers operate on separate stalks (in their traditional positions) and you get physical mirror adjustment, a full suite of window switches and a proper volume knob, engineers assuring us the latter is vital for operating a high-quality audio system with requisite precision. For all the leaps being made here, the iX3 still outstretches a friendly hand for BMW die-hards to hold with Heilmer and his team unafraid to rewind six decades to BMW’s previous moment of magnitude to get the design of new Neue Klasse cars right.

“We time-travelled back to that point, to that feeling of anticipating the future,” he tells CDN. “I was thinking about ‘how do you describe this feeling of Neue Klasse?’ I had my own moment at eight years old when my Auntie had an original E21 3-Series. Compared to other cars of its time it was elegant, light and modern in its approach and that's the feeling the designers inhaled within this process. There was lots of time spent in the museum and around our icons.

“We have to honour our heritage. That will be the differentiator [against newer rivals]. It's not just form language or materials, it's the overall experience; how it drives, the sound when you're closing the door, how the steering wheel feels. That all needs to come together as a BMW.”