Autocar
This is the future of BMW – and maybe the future of electric motoring too Any accusation that European car makers have slept on EVs would probably be taken as an insult by BMW, which has actually played the game rather cleverly.Ignoring 20th-century science projects like the electric 1602e built for the 1972 Olympics, it was the i3 that kicked things off in 2013. Since EV drivetrain technology still wasn’t mature enough to hit the big time, it was quite a canny move to make the i3 experimental and interesting, with distinctive design and a carbonfibre chassis.After that, BMW’s CLAR platform was developed to accommodate both electric and combustion-engine drivetrains, to surprisingly good effect, because cars like the i4 were nice to drive and decently efficient, and gave BMW the flexibility to compensate for unsteady EV demand with ICE alternatives.Whereas the first BMW iX3, a Chinese-built sibling of the combustion-engined X3, was BMW’s first tentative attempt at a mainstream electric SUV, this brand-new iX3 is BMW shifting gears.It’s the first of many ‘Neue Klasse’ EVs on a dedicated platform unencumbered by the compromises necessary to fit engines. It introduces a new design language and a host of new tech that should futureproof the line-up for years to come.Early drives have been very promising. Now for the full UK assessment with a day of testing at Horiba Mira to find out whether the iX3 can go for the full five stars.
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