When BMW said Neue Klasse styling would trickle down to gas cars, it wasn’t kidding around. In fact, we’ve now learned straight from the company’s design boss that ICE and EV models will look very much alike. So much so that we’ll have a hard time telling them apart. You could say that’s already happening, and you’d be entirely right.
However, while today’s electric BMWs use the same platforms as the gas models, there will be a more precise separation. Neue Klasse will usher in the firm’s first true bespoke architecture for EVs. Even so, the styling will rub off on conventionally powered vehicles—in a big way.
In an interview with BMWBLOG ahead of CES, Adrian van Hooydonk explained how strikingly similar future gas and electric cars will be: “I think you will be hard-pressed [from a distance] to tell which one is the electric one and which one is the combustion engine. It’s going to be that close.” However, he added that dedicated EVs will have shorter noses, allowing the saved space to improve cabin room. It’s a predictable change, given how an EV needs less space underneath the hood after deleting the combustion engine.
“Neue Klasse starts with some electric vehicles first, but most of the technologies, certainly the digital technologies, certainly also the user interface, and even the design language, we will be able to also transport into our ICE vehicles. [Neue Klasse] is going to be kicked off by some electric cars, but it’s going to encompass the entire vehicle lineup, the entire brand, all the propulsion systems.”
We should point out that not all fufromEVs BMW will ride on the dedicated platform. There will still be electric cars with the same underpinning as gas models. As previously reported, work is underway for the iX5, iX6, and iX7 models on the tried-and-tested CLAR. Naturally, these will be heavily related to the next-gen X5, X6, and X7 with combustion engines.
Future BMWs will share more than the design language between ICE and EV models. The iDrive X is coming to all cars, not just next-gen models but also existing vehicles that will undergo a Life Cycle Impulse. Consequently, whether you love or loathe it, expect the BMW of tomorrow to have a huge center screen. In addition, a dashboard-wide projection, dubbed Panoramic Vision, is coming to gas cars, too.