Say what you will about BMW’s current design language, but we have to give credit where it’s due in terms of originality as the luxury automaker hasn’t applied the copy/paste strategy. Although the current products utilize only a couple of platforms, the vehicles look substantially different from one model lineup to another. To give you a couple of examples, the new 5 Series is not an upscaled 3 Series while the X7 isn’t a bloated X5.
What does the future have in store for BMW design? We’ve already received a substantial preview with the Vision Neue Klasse and its minimalist appearance inside and out. No fewer than six NE-based electric vehicles will be launched between 2025 and 2028, and there’s going to be more design overlap between them compared to the current crop of CLAR-based models. The disclosure was made by none other than BMW Group’s design boss Adrian van Hooydonk.
Don’t go into thinking this fresh design language will adopt the “same sausage, different length” approach considering the cars are still going to have what Adrian van Hooydonk refers to as “individual characters.” However, he did say in an interview with Autocar there will be a “strong overlap” in terms of styling among these NE-based models.
As to why that’s going to be the case, the head design honcho said it has to do with the rapid succession of EVs by launching several models in such a short timeframe. He didn’t go into details about the initial cars set to go on sale, but BMW has already announced the first two will be a sedan and a crossover in the 3 Series segment. The Vision Neue Klasse is obviously a teaser for the saloon while that camouflaged SUV prototype was a next-gen iX3.
Adrian van Hooydonk mentioned the order in which these EVs are going to be launched will depend on the model’s scheduled shelf life. He went on to mention BMW used to have 10-year cycles for a product, kicking off with the 7 Series before its goodies trickled down to the lesser models. The Neue Klasse models are going to come one after another, prompting the Head of Design to say “it will feel like we turn the pages all at once.”
Source: Autocar