BMW launched the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse sedan final September on the IAA Mobility present in Munich. This week, it took the wraps off its SUV counterpart, aptly named the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X. Primarily based on this chronology, you’d be tempted to say the saloon would be the first to go on sale. Nevertheless, when the brand new Debrecen plant in Hungary begins making vehicles subsequent 12 months, it’s the SUV that may roll off the meeting line.

We determined to ask the corporate’s R&D Frank Weber why the iX3 will likely be launched earlier than the i3, though the sedan was previewed first: “The choice to begin with the crossover is strategic as a result of at this time half of BMW’s gross sales, globally, are of ‘X’ automobiles. Which signifies that there are areas the place they weigh as much as two-thirds and these fashions are leaders of their section.”

Weber added that the event of the 2 ideas was finalized concomitantly, and the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse pair represents “archetypes of virtually all BMWs of the long run.” The sedan will observe in roughly a 12 months, with manufacturing scheduled to begin later in 2026 on the Munich plant in Germany. An extra 4 fashions are deliberate for a launch by 2028, however the luxurious automaker stays tight-lipped about their identities. That stated, an electrical M3 has been formally confirmed.

What else can we anticipate? Our cash is on derivatives of the iX3 and i3 sedan, reminiscent of a sleeker iX4 crossover and an i3 Touring wagon. Whereas BMW doesn’t say what’s going to come after the preliminary SUV and sedan duo, it has introduced plans to construct Neue Klasse-based vehicles in Shenyang (China) from 2026 in addition to on the San Luis Potosi (Mexico) manufacturing unit from 2027. Later this decade, EVs will come alive from Regensburg (Germany).

BMW is gearing as much as make six electrical automobiles in the US on the Spartanburg manufacturing unit in South Carolina. These will all possible be SUVs nevertheless it’s unclear what number of will likely be underpinned by Neue Klasse. Though the devoted electrical structure is correct across the nook, there are nonetheless plans to construct next-gen EVs on the present CLAR.