Plenty of room for more Neue Klasse electric vehicles

Even though demand for electric vehicles is slowing, the BMW Group is not yet experiencing this slowdown. As of March 31, 2024, the German conglomerate’s three automobile brands have delivered 82,689 electric vehicles. This is an increase of 27.9% compared to the first three months of last year. BMW led the sales surge, shipping 78,682 cars without combustion engines. MINI delivered 3,428 electric vehicles while Rolls-Royce sold 579 Specter coupes.

Purely electric cars accounted for 13.9% of all BMW Group deliveries in the first quarter of 2024, but there is still plenty of room for growth. The high-profile wave of Neue Klasse models arriving from 2025 could greatly boost electric vehicle sales. Speaking on a conference call after the quarterly statement, company boss Oliver Zipse hinted at several NK-based cars.

“There is plenty of room between the two vehicles for innovation and new models – and we intend to use it.”

He was talking about additional models beyond the already confirmed iX3 crossover and i3 sedan. The first will enter production next year at the Debrecen factory in Hungary. The latter will be assembled from 2026 in the Munich factory, Germany. The big boss didn’t give details on the additional vehicles, but we do know that at least four will arrive by 2028.

What could these other models be? As previously reported, BMW could launch derivatives of the iX3 and i3 with an iX4 and i3 Touring respectively. All four are expected to spawn full M hot versions before the end of the decade. Additionally, the company has already confirmed that it is working on China-dedicated models, designed locally by the Designworks Shanghai Studio team.

During the same speech, Zipse reiterated that Neue Klasse represents “the largest investment in the company’s history.” He added that NK would be “a big step toward the future in virtually every area of ​​technology.” Some of the developments made for the next generation of electric vehicles will affect “all future BMW models”, including those equipped with a combustion engine.

Source:BMW