- Gas or electric, future BMWs will have the same look
- Upcoming Neue Klasse EVs set stage for design of gas models too
- BMW sold more EVs in 2024 than Audi and Mercedes-Benz combined
During a media roundtable at CES 2025 in Las Vegas earlier this month, BMW’s chief development officer Frank Weber, who’s been tasked with leading development of BMW’s forthcoming product portfolio, declared: “A BMW is a BMW and for us this is so fundamental.”
The executive was referring not just to the automaker’s Neue Klasse EVs, which will launch later this year, but to what will follow with gas tanks and tailpipes. What powers a vehicle shouldn’t define the design, according to Weber.
“We can only have one design,” Weber said, followed by “there is no difference between an ICE car and a battery electric car.”
The issue with two designs stems from making one feel newer and the other older or outdated, Weber explained. BMW won’t try and sell an electric car as “more modern” than its other vehicles either, he said.
BMW Vision Neue Klasse X concept
Unlike other automakers, BMW is in the process of embracing the same essential design language among both internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE) and battery-electric vehicles (BEV). Smaller differences such as grille shapes or rear diffusers can be different, but the language and essence are the same as seen with the current 5- and 7-Series lineups. The i4, i5, and i7 all look like they fit alongside their gas-powered siblings.
The executive noted that splitting EV design completely from gas-powered cars is “probably one of the biggest mistakes some of the competitors were doing.” BMW’s upcoming Neue Klasse EVs, on the other hand, will share their design with gasoline-fueled models, Weber confirmed.
If this is a big mistake by Weber’s description, BMW made it too. The automaker’s early EV, the i3, featured futuristic design that stood out from the rest of the lineup. The same could be said for its wild i8 plug-in hybrid sports car that came alongside the i3. The iX crossover SUV has stood differently in design from other models for several years, though it might bridge the gap between today’s gas-powered lineup and tomorrow’s Neue Klasse EVs.
2024 BMW i4 M50
Audi reported that in 2024 it sold over 164,000 EVs, while Mercedes-Benz said it sold 185,100 EVs, and BMW said it sold 426,594. Weber attributed BMW’s EV sales dominance over fellow German luxury brands Mercedes-Benz and Audi in 2024 due to its strategy of all cars getting equal design treatment.
Mercedes and its lineup of EQE and EQS EVs shifted to a cab-forward design language that’s markedly different from both its E-Class and S-Class sedans and its GLE and GLS crossover SUVs. Notably, the new electric G-Class looks like its gas-powered sibling aside from its different wheels and grille.
Audi’s lineup of EVs, which includes two crossovers SUVs and a four-door sports sedan that’s a reskinned Porsche, doesn’t stand out like the Mercedes EVs. Those models blend into the automaker’s lineup in terms of design.
What Weber confirmed won’t change in this methodical shift to EVs is BMW’s hierarchical lineup of number-based model series, which spans from a 1-Series (X1, for the U.S.) all the way to a 7-Series. “This is so precious that you have a certain hierarchy that people know what to get,” he said.
According to Weber, dealers report people aren’t walking in knowing which exact powertrain they want. Customers are really thinking about it and asking themselves, “Am I ready?” And if the answer is no then the automaker’s able to accommodate that.
“The more relaxed we are and the more they feel respected in the strategy of the company, the easier it is to sell vehicles,” Weber noted.
BMW paid for travel and lodging so we could bring you this firsthand report