Will there be an affordable electric car in the BMW Neue Class?

For those who want to know what BMWs will be like from next year, visiting the forecaster is not necessary. BMW previously showed the Vision Neue Class. “That’s just a concept car,” we hear you think, but BMW says it really wants to put this together with the all-new Neue Klasse Vision. But what other BMW models will be available soon? Is there still room for a (relatively) affordable electric car like the BMW i3?

After the presentation of the annual figures, Top Gear Netherlands asks BMW board member Frank Weber about his previous statement. Weber hinted last year that there was room for an affordable entry-level model in the Neue Klasse. However, nothing was said about this in the latest BMW presentation. Can we still expect an affordable BMW and can it compete with EVs that come in the price range up to 25,000 euros?

BMW ‘continues to sell cheap cars’

Weber says: ‘We will start with the Neue Klasse next year. First we will see the cars in our highest level segments and more models will follow. In any case, the beginning is the Neue Klasse X of size X1. “I can’t say anything specific about the other models yet, but of course it’s important for BMW to continue to offer affordable cars,” Weber adds.

According to the CEO of BMW, the brand already offers affordable models. The cheapest BMW you can buy now is the 1-series, which goes for at least 38,139 euros in the Netherlands (30,660 euros in Belgium). The cheapest electric car from BMW is currently the iX1 at 48,475 euros (57,950 euros in Belgium). We don’t expect a 25,000 euro BMW anytime soon – it will remain a brand from the top end.

Neue Klasse is not just electric

At the end of his statement, Weber makes an interesting point about the Neue Klasse: ‘In general, the Neue Klasse is coming in all important areas and the Neue Klasse technology clusters will affect the entire future of BMW’s product portfolio, even beyond pure electric vehicles. .’ So there will also be BMWs that use hydrogen, gasoline or diesel that use things from the Neue Klasse generation.