BMW will officially unwrap the new BMW iX3, its second series-production EV, tomorrow, just over two years since it was shown in concept form at the Beijing motor show.
While an official preview image gives little away, images of the Mercedes EQC rival leaked on social media in April, all but confirming its final production styling.
First published by Instagram user cochespias and since circulated more widely, the images - alleged to be official BMW pictures - showed the Jaguar I-Pace and EQC rival's exterior with no body cladding for the first time.
We can see the BMW's trademark kidney grille has been blanked out for production, as is often the case with EVs that no longer require air cooling to the same extent. Vertical intakes at each edge of the front bumper seem to be brake cooling ducts, while blue backlighting appears to feature around the grille and down the sills.
The unusual aero-focused wheel design is adopted from the iX3 concept, although the car's overall look has been toned down a little as the EV becomes more closely linked to the standard BMW X3. Blue detailing also features at the rear, with two panels acting as styling inserts in place of the usual twin exhaust outlets.
We have yet to see shots of the interior, but it's safe to assume that - bar some new functions in the instruments and infotainment to show EV-specific information and buttons for the extra drive modes - it will remain largely identical to that of the standard X3.
Details of the production iX3's powertrain are not yet forthcoming. When the 2018 iX3 concept was first shown the plan was to offer a battery capacity of over 70kWh, a range of around 250 miles and an electric motor rated at 270bhp (an output that could in theory be doubled with a dual-motor set-up on top models).
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BMW Designs
Just an opinion but there are still one or two good looking BMWs - the 5 series is classically styled, discrete and elegant in a way that the Audi A6 is not, looking like an over grown Passat or the Mercedes-Benz E-Class which looks like a too big C-Class especially from the rear where the rear light clusters are far too small. BMW avoidedmzking the 5 Series look like a big 3 Series though it did veer towards a smaller 7 Series, a problem solved when the 7 Series acquired a "Chinese" grille. The new 3 Series is far better looking than the last version avoiding the slanted down bonnet that made the F30 look like it had been in a slow speed shunt at the front. Beyond that though the pickings are slim with the 8 Series coupe and convertible managing to look reasonably svelte and purposeful but the Gran Coupe looks contrived. The X models are all pretty poor except for the X1 though even that is not great. The Z4 looks sporty but not pretty and the new 1 Series is a standard Euro hatch with a silly grille but is better than the last version. The 2 Series coupe and convertible are inoffensive which counts as a win where BMWs are concerned but have no presence. The less said about the 7 Series the better. By far the best looking BMW is the i8 such a shame BMW did not use that or the i3 as templates for the "i" range.
Awkward looking BMWs are a
In this iX3 it's nolonger a question of criticising its styling but rather the demonstration of the general malaise of BMW for not bothering at all.
To think this is from the
To think this is from the company that launched the i3 and i8 back in 2013.
Leaving styling aside (boring rather than offensive in my view) surely more progress should have been made in 7 years? They seem to have gone from bold innovative EV only platforms to conservative and dull adaptations of conventional piston cars with all the compromises that entails.
An age thing.
I think kids today aren't really interested in cars, they see them only as transport, not something to enjoy, my youngest child isn't interested in learning to drive,so I think in the future People won't own a car, they might watch motorsports,but owning?
Peter Cavellini wrote:
Bollocks to that, I'm still sort of young and am very much interested in cars. Kids (well, teens) are still interested in cars too, they're just completely priced out by ever-spiralling purchase, maintenance and insurance costs. The last one is especially a killer as they're forced to fork out more for insuring a cheap and cheerful banger than to actually buy it.