German luxury automaker BMW announced last week that it will debut its new “Neue Klasse” battery electric vehicle (BEV) architecture in 2025 with the company’s new 3-Series line-up.
Speaking to journalists as part of the company’s first-quarter earnings call, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse not only confirmed that the company’s Neue Klasse (New Class) architecture would debut in 2025 but revealed that it would underpin the new line-up of BMW electric 3-Series models.
“With its focus on electric, digital and circular, [Neue Klasse] represents a quantum leap in technology,” said Zipse, adding that it “will also come with our new Gen6 drive train generation for the first time – with more output, new cell chemistry, and new cell formats.
“The Neue Klasse will give sales of fully-electric vehicles a major boost.”
The Neue Klasse architecture has been promised for some time now, with a handful of rumours or reports over that time invariably ending up mistaken.
For example, during the earnings call, Zipse responded to a reporter who repeated the previously reported belief that the Neue Klasse would be used for several drivetrain options.
However, according to Zipse, this has never been the case, and the Neue Klasse has always been a battery electric vehicle (BEV) only architecture.
In announcing that the Neue Klasse architecture will debut on future 3-Series electric models, Zipse also put to rest any rumours that the architecture will be used on earlier vehicles, such as the i4.
Zipse also clarified that the Neue Klasse architecture will “be mainly focused on the middle car segment of our product portfolio” and that it will not be a single architecture covering everything “from the lower segment all the way to the luxury segment.”
“And at that point in time, the market will have developed into a size where it is reasonable to have only one drivetrain in that architecture. So the Neue Klasse will have only one drivetrain, it’s BEV only. And I think it’s from a timing point exactly the right time to do so.”
BMW is also refocusing its supply and production chain so as to concentrate “on utilising raw materials in such a way that they can be fed back into the material loop after being used,” said Zipse. “The Neue Klasse will set new benchmarks for this: 50% of the raw materials used to build it will be recyclable.”
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.