Credit: BMW

BMW has an all-electric replacement for its X3 crossover on the way. When it arrives in mid-2026, it will have the lowest carbon footprint of any BMW yet, thanks to an obsessive approach to sustainability during the design process. But we knew that already; what we couldn't tell you then, but can now, is everything else we know about the first of the so-called Neue Klasse electric vehicles.

"The Neue Klasse is our biggest future-focused project and marks a huge leap forward in terms of technologies, driving experience, and design," said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse. "Practically everything about it is new, yet it is also more BMW than ever. Our whole product range will benefit from the innovations brought by the Neue Klasse—whichever drive system technology is employed. What started as a bold vision has now become reality: the BMW iX3 is the first Neue Klasse model to go into series production, kicking off a new era for BMW."

A new face

The iX3 also debuts a new corporate face for BMW's SUVs: From now on, these will have tall, narrow kidney grilles like the one you see here, as opposed to the short, wide grille seen on the front of the Neue Klasse sedan (which is almost certainly the next 3 Series). LEDs replace chrome, and there's a new take on BMW's usual four headlights, although the illuminated kidney grill is an option, not mandatory. Despite the two-box shape, the iX3 manages a drag coefficient of just 0.24.

Sixth-generation

As befitting a company called the Bavarian Motor Works, BMW has been in the business of designing and building its own electric powertrains for quite some time, in contrast to some rivals that have been buying EV tech from suppliers. In addition to the class-leading manufacturing efficiency, the sixth-generation electric powertrain should be extremely efficient—around 4 miles/kWh (15.5 kWh/100 km) from an SUV-shape, which is 20–25 percent better than current SUV EVs.

The first variant will be the iX3 50 xDrive, which boasts a combined 463 hp (345 kW) and 475 lb-ft (645 Nm) from its pair of motors. The front axle uses an asynchronous motor, with an electrically excited synchronous motor at the rear axle providing most of the power.

There's 40 percent more regenerative braking than BMW's current powertrains. We weren't given an exact threshold where the friction brakes take over, but it should be around 0.5–0.6 G. That means that the iX3 will regeneratively brake for the overwhelming majority of the time—just 5–10 percent of braking events should require the friction brakes, we're told. And the regen should be smoother and more precise, as well as quieter than before. There's even some regenerative braking should the ABS trigger.

NACS port comes standard, with a CCS1 adapter.
Credit: BMW

For the Neue Klasse, BMW has moved to a new 800 V battery, using cylindrical cells rather than the prismatic cells you'd find in an iX or i4. Energy density is 20 percent greater than the current cells, and the pack has a usable capacity of 108 kWh. That means you can expect a range of up to 400 miles, although the official EPA rating will only arrive next year.

The new pack charges a lot faster, too. It can accept up to 400 kW, should you find a charger capable of such power. If so, the 10–80 percent charge should take 21 minutes. (BMW also says it will add 230 miles in 10 minutes.) The iX3 is capable of acting as a mobile power bank (V2L) as well as powering a home or even the grid (this requires a V2H-capable wall box), and North American iX3s will sport NACS charging ports.

Software-defined

The Neue Klasse is a clean-sheet design, and BMW has used this as an opportunity to clear out the legacy cruft that has accumulated over the years. Instead of hundreds of discrete black boxes, each with a single electric control unit (ECU) performing a single job, the iX3 uses four high-performance computers, each in charge of a different domain. Among the benefits of this approach? Almost 2,000 feet (600 m) less wiring and a weight saving of about 30 percent compared to a conventional wiring loom with all its ECUs. Taking single-function controllers out of the loop and replacing them with a domain computer also cuts latency.

The Heart of Joy is the domain controller responsible for driving dynamics and the powertrain, and can cope with up to four electric motors, something we should see in electric M-badged Neue Klasse models in the future. But good driving dynamics require more than just a fancy computer brain. The iX3 is extremely stiff, with the front and rear axles mounted to the battery pack. Weight distribution is a near-perfect 49:51.

The interior is quite faithful to the concept we saw last year. The black strip at the base of the windshield is the panoramic display.
Credit: BMW

A different domain controller is in charge of the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). This water-cooled computer is 20 times faster than the processors that control the ADAS in a current BMW, and was developed in-house by BMW. The automaker says the focus is always on the driver's needs in a way that is smart, symbiotic, and safe. There are AI/ML algorithms for perception and planning, but safety-proven rule-based algorithms always have the final say in the decision-making process.

There's a hands-free, partially automated driving system that works at up to 85 mph (136 km/h) on premapped divided-lane highways, and an interesting new feature is the cooperative braking and steering during active assistance. Unlike just about every car on the road currently, using the brake will not immediately kill the cruise control, and if you intentionally cross the median or a lane marker and are looking where you're going, the eye-tracking driver monitoring system sees you and won't try to correct. (But if you veer across the lane and aren't looking, the car will steer you back.)

Shy tech

The iX3's interior is near-identical to the concept we saw last March. BMW calls this approach shy tech, where controls or displays are invisible when inactive. There's a new multifunction steering wheel—that will surely be divisive—which puts the ADAS controls on its left side, and media controls on the right. The iDrive rotary controller is no more, but there are plenty of physical buttons (not capacitive ones) for things like windows and mirrors.

BMW says the rotary controller wouldn't have worked well with the new iDrive UI for the trapezoidal touchscreen. (Additionally, it told us that in some regions, drivers never used the rotary controller at all.) The screen is closer to the driver than in current BMWs, and the trapezoidal shape rather effectively means the left side of the screen—which has persistent, common functions—is always close to your right hand. After playing with the system for a while, I think the UI is a lot easier to navigate than the current BMW infotainment system, good though that is.

I've often been complimentary about voice recognition in BMWs, and the iX3 has an upgrade here. The natural language processing is now based on Alexa, not Cerence's tech, and there's a cartoon visualization for the personal assistant that looks a bit like a ninja, or perhaps an alien. This will make eye contact with the person giving voice commands, so it can discern between driver and passenger.

At the base of the windshield is the new panoramic display. This presents information in zones—you can personalize what shows up in the center and right zones, but the one in front of the driver will always be the critical stuff like your speed and any warnings or alerts. There's also an optional heads-up display.

BMW says we can expect the iX3 50 eDrive to arrive in the US next summer, starting at around $60,000.