German car makers are having a tough time of it lately. While they all might be struggling, it’s BMW that seems to be on top of things. The storied brand is facing one of the biggest transformations in its history and has deliberately reached back into its history to ensure it can carry it through.
BMW recently revived one of the most important names in its history – well, sort of. Let’s talk about “Neue Klasse”. As with the original, “Neue Klasse” refers strictly to the architecture of its models, and this time, it’s an electric architecture.
New platform. New battery tech. New software. New interior. New design language. You get the idea – it’s all very Neue indeed. And it’s the iX3 SUV that’s kicked things off.
This is the car that announces to the world what BMWs will look like for the next decade. And that’s why this name really matters; Neue Klasse isn’t just a marketing team’s way of making its new models sound important.
The last time BMW used the moniker, it changed the company’s fortunes forever. In today’s tough market place, it’ll be hoping it can pull the same trick off again.
Neue Klasse has saved BMW once before.
Wind back the clocks to 1961 and Bimmer was in serious trouble. Having survived the post-war years making motorcycles, quadricycles and outdated larger models and, by the early ‘60s things were dire enough that Mercedes actually proposed taking it over.
But BMW scraped through and at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1961, it pulled the covers off the all-neue model – the 1500. It was rather unexpected, particularly to customers who had acclimatised themselves to the waft gait of models like the 501.
But here, we can find the blueprint for what BMW became best known for – the sports saloon. Ok, we’re maybe getting ahead of ourselves here; 0-62mph still took 15 seconds, and it had its fair share of problems during the first few years of production. But the hallmarks were there; lightweight construction, a handsomely proportioned four-door body and excellent aerodynamics.
The most important thing here was that is wasn’t simply a new model. It was an entirely new philosophy. And a philosophy that was particularly German in its thinking. It’d be another few decades before BMW’s marketing coined “Sheer Driving Pleasure”, but the foundations can be seen right here.
But this isn’t 1961.
Fast forward to 2026 and BMW is doing something remarkably similar. There’ll always be a place in BMW’s range for a fruity straight six, but in today’s market that’s just not going to cut it – not if the brand wants to survive in the face of the flurry of new EVs.
Today it’s software that matters; battery tech, manufacturing costs, efficiency. So BMW went back to the drawing board.
Neue Klasse isn’t just a platform though. BMW itself has described it as a complete rethinking of the production, development and design of its products. It’s the iX3 that’s planted the flag, and it’s this model I’ve gotten up close and personal with. So, any good?
New iX3: It doesn’t feel like an “electric BMW”
And that’s a great achievement for starters. With the exception of the soon-to-be-iconic (maybe) i3, the more recent range of BEVs have felt like an electric version of cars BMW already do very well. The i4 was an electric 4 Series, the i5 likewise. And the less said about the outgoing iX3 the better – from a design point of view at least.
But that approach made sense – to a point. But as a brand, it essentially meant that choosing an electric BMW was essentially like choosing a diesel, or petrol, or plug-in hybrid – it was a derivative of an existing architecture. The new iX3 couldn’t be more different. This is a car that is designed to be electric – it is not an EV by chance.
BMW has remembered how to do car design.
Whether you like the styling is one thing. BMW’s design department has certainly given us plenty to talk about over the last few years, and I suspect the new iX3 will be no different.
Personally, though, I think they’ve nailed it. It’s cleaner than the outgoing car, much more cohesive and, crucially, it doesn’t look like BMW is desperately trying to make it look futuristic.
The enormous kidney grilles are gone. In their place is a much simpler interpretation of the familiar BMW face, while the Hofmeister kink remains around the back.
There are little nods to the past too. The front lighting has a faint whiff of BMW’s old four-eyed identity, while the overall proportions are actually rather reminiscent of some of the company’s older saloons.
But it isn’t retro, and it’s not supposed to be. Despite that namesake, the Neue Klasse isn’t about looking backwards in the design department; it’s more about a shared philosophy. And when it comes to styling, that was all about establishing what BMW should look like next.
It’s seriously clever underneath.
The numbers are impressive. The iX3 50 xDrive produces 469hp and 645Nm, gets from 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds and has a claimed range of up to 500 miles.
It can also charge at up to 400kW, with BMW claiming a 10-80% charge in 21 minutes. All very impressive.
But there’s something more interesting going on here. BMW hasn’t simply shoved a gigantic battery into an SUV and called it a day. The entire Neue Klasse architecture has been designed around efficiency.
The battery, motors, aerodynamics and software are all working together to reduce the amount of energy the thing actually needs.
And that’s important. Because we’re currently in a slightly ridiculous phase of EV development where range is increasingly being solved by adding more battery.
More battery means more weight > More weight means more energy consumption > More energy consumption means you need more battery.
It’s not exactly rocket science. The iX3’s claimed efficiency of up to 4.1 miles per kWh is therefore arguably more impressive than its 500-mile claimed range. It’s also a sign that BMW has understood that the next generation of EVs can’t just be about making batteries bigger – something some OEMs are a long way off grasping.
The engineering has gone somewhere else.
The new Neue Klasse is still obsessively engineered, but much of that engineering is invisible.
BMW’s new Heart of Joy control unit brings together the powertrain and dynamic systems, while the car’s new electrical architecture is built around four central “superbrains”.
It’s all very 2026, and it’s all the more interesting when you consider the whole “Neue Klasse” thing has come about from a rather average – if accomplished – car from 1966.
Back then, BMW’s engineers were working out how to make a four-cylinder engine and a relatively lightweight chassis work brilliantly together. Now they’re working out how to make batteries, electric motors and computers do the same thing.
Praise be. It still feels like a proper BMW.
This is where BMW could so easily have got it wrong. It would be quite easy to build an EV that was incredibly quick, incredibly efficient and utterly forgettable.
The iX3 isn’t. It is, of course, very quick. Most electric cars are these days. What’s more impressive is how it handles its considerable bulk.
The steering is accurate, the body control is good and there’s a sense that everything is working together rather than fighting each other.
It’s not an old-school BMW. Obviously. There’s no straight-six making a lovely noise in front of you. There isn’t a satisfying gear change or a manual gearbox to play with.
But the basic BMW philosophy is still there; it doesn’t feel like you’re operating a computer that’s been given four wheels.
It feels like you’re driving a car. That sounds like a fairly low bar, but increasingly it isn’t.
A less convincing interior?
This is where things gets slightly more complicated. BMW’s new Panoramic iDrive is clever – very clever.
There’s a huge central touchscreen, information projected across the windscreen and an optional 3D head-up display.
It looks spectacular. But I’m not sure everything is necessarily better because it has become digital.
One of the things BMW used to be exceptionally good at was making complicated cars feel simple.
The old iDrive controller is a perfect example. It gave you access to a huge amount of functionality without requiring you to prod at a touchscreen while driving.
The new system looks fantastic, tut there are times when I’d rather have a button.
Perhaps that’s the inevitable trade-off of this new generation. BMW has always been about engineering things beautifully.
Now it has to engineer the interface beautifully too. And that’s a completely different challenge.
The i3 will be the real test.
There’s one car I’m actually more interested in than the iX3. The new i3. Not the quirky little carbon-fibre thing from the last decade, but the upcoming electric saloon that will sit much closer to the traditional 3 Series formula.
And I suspect this could be where the Neue Klasse philosophy really proves itself. The iX3 is a big SUV. It needs a big battery. It’s packed with technology and has been designed to showcase what BMW can do.
The i3 doesn’t have that luxury; in fact it will have to be efficient because it’s smaller. And, while the masses still seem to be demanding the ubiquitous SUV shape, the i3 will be desirable because it’s a 3 Series-sized saloon.
If history has taught us anything, it’ll drive brilliantly. And that matters.
Because if you look back at the original Neue Klasse, BMW’s transformation wasn’t really about building some technologically incredible car. It was about finding the formula that would define the company for decades afterwards.
The 1500 led to the 1800, the 2000, the 02 Series and eventually the 3 Series. That’s quite a legacy.
The iX3 can’t possibly establish that on its own. But the i3 might.
So, will Neue Klasse pull it off?
I think so – and that’s probably why the new iX3 is more important than the badge on the back suggests.
It’s not simply another new BMW. It’s the first proper glimpse at what BMW thinks a car should be when the engine is no longer the centre of everything.
That’s a pretty big deal for a company whose entire identity has been built around engines. And perhaps that’s why reaching back for the Neue Klasse name makes so much sense.
BMW isn’t trying to recreate the 1960s. It’s trying to repeat what it achieved back then. A fundamental change in technology by a company forced to reconsider what it’s actually best at.
