MUNICH — BMW is as soon as once more turning to the “Neue Klasse” model – this time as an electrical car – because the automaker seeks to copy previous successes to meet up with trailblazer Tesla.
Through the early Sixties, BMW was a struggling enterprise with an unsure future, overshadowed by Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz and the giants of Detroit.
The corporate’s leaders put all their chips behind a brand new automotive they known as the “Neue Klasse,” or “new class.”
Launched in 1962 because the BMW 1800, the Neue Klasse set the German automaker on track to change into “the last word driving machine” firm and one of the vital profitable manufacturers in any trade.
Now, BMW is at one other crossroads, and is popping once more to a “Neue Klasse” to drive a brand new strategic path.
BMW debuted on the IAA Mobility auto present in Munich on Saturday a prototype for a “Neue Klasse” electrical car roughly the scale of the present 3-series, the corporate’s best-selling mannequin line.
The present automotive options panoramic info “head-up” shows projected on the windshield, in addition to some conventional BMW design parts akin to a particular angle – the Hofmeister kink named for the designer of the unique Neue Klasse – within the rear aspect home windows and the dashboard display.
“We need to make this car technology so fashionable that it seems to be like we skipped one technology,” BMW Chief Designer Adrian van Hooydonk mentioned.
“That’s essential due to these new gamers which are coming in. You realize the controversy that has been happening: Oh, conventional OEM (producer) over 100 years outdated, are you able to make this step? We are able to and we need to.”
The present automotive previews a multibillion-euro effort to leap the know-how hole with Tesla and different EV makers which are profitable prospects with fashions and software-driven options many present BMWs don’t match.
That’s regardless of BMW being comparatively early to embrace EVs with the launch of the i3 compact in 2013 – a automotive that by no means shifted massive volumes and was finally discontinued in 2022.
“Neue Klasse is by far the largest funding in our historical past. As a result of the know-how we’re utilizing throughout BMW is all new in all areas, with out exception,” Frank Weber, BMW’s chief know-how officer, mentioned in an interview forward of the Munich occasion.
BMW executives didn’t disclose the whole funding figures.
The corporate is investing 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion)in new battery-making and meeting operations for the Neue Klasse at a plant in Hungary, one of many first factories to begin constructing the automobiles.
When actual Neue Klasse automobiles begin to go down meeting strains in 2025, they may arrive 13 years after Tesla launched the Mannequin S and redefined the last word driving machine for a lot of prosperous prospects.
Tesla and different EV startups already use key parts of the Neue Klasse design, akin to a battery pack that kinds a part of the car’s physique construction to cut back weight and meeting value.
‘Aggressive supply’
BMW’s new compact fashions will enter a aggressive section the place Tesla has began a value warfare. BMW has not introduced costs for the Neue Klasse.
“It will likely be a really aggressive supply,” CEO Oliver Zipse informed reporters forward of the present. “We is not going to value ourselves out of this market.”
Tesla has additionally redrawn the enterprise mannequin across the car – promoting on to prospects, utilizing over-the-air software program upgrades so as to add options and consistently capturing car knowledge to enhance driver help and different options.
“There’s a multi-faceted transformation that should happen” for established automakers akin to BMW, mentioned Evangelos Simoudis, a Silicon Valley enterprise capital investor and professional on car software program methods.
Neue Klasse automobiles can be powered by 48-millimeter-diameter cylindrical batteries in several lengths. The batteries are related in dimension and form to these Tesla plans to make use of in its Cybertruck and different fashions.
The Neue Klasse is concentrating on a 50 p.c discount in battery pack prices and 25 p.c extra vary per kilowatt-hour, a measure of effectivity, executives mentioned.
BMW has begun overhauling its Fundamental meeting plant in Munich, adjoining to the corporate’s headquarters, to construct Neue Klasse automobiles, which can finally exchange present combustion fashions together with the 3-series sedan and X3 SUVs.
The software program methods and battery know-how behind the Neue Klasse automobiles can be as difficult for BMW because the manufacturing transformation, if no more so.
Neue Klasse automobiles may have 4 “tremendous brains,” to manage propulsion, driver help methods, infotainment and different capabilities, Weber mentioned.
BMW is creating the motive force help system with chipmaker Qualcomm. It’s creating the propulsion and chassis controllers in-house, Weber mentioned.
BMW is rolling the cube on utilizing head-up shows, projected on the windshield, to counter the big video screens Tesla, Mercedes and others are utilizing to pipe maps, music, convention calls and video video games to drivers and passengers.
Small head-up shows have been supplied by automakers for years.
“We’re satisfied head-up is one of the best ways to show info,” mentioned Stephan Durach, senior vice chairman for linked firm improvement.
Growing the large-scale windshield shows has not been simple, Durach mentioned in an interview. “It goes deep into the general structure of the automotive. You eliminate the instrument cluster, you do your steering wheels differently.”