BMW's supply chain is some 2,700 providers long, across 31 global production sites, writes Brian Byrne. That's a complicated web of people, equipment, products and processes to keep tabs on, along with development, design, and production of over 70 variations on its core lineup of around 11 model series. So it's a big decision when it comes to a total platform renewal like the Neue Klasse that's to underpin all future cars from the Munich-based company. With the fourth generation of the X3 crossover only launched in 2024, it probably surprised most of us when the battery-electric new iX3 was revealed last year as the first of the Neue Klasse cars, eschewing the older platform on which the first BEV X3 had been built. Yet it makes sense: just taking the Irish market, if the electric and combustion X3s are combined, it makes the model series the biggest seller for the brand.
The car certainly makes a visual impact for Neue Klasse, with styling details that completely sever from most of the largely evolutionary changes that have been a BMW hallmark over two decades. There are things, of course, that must be retained. The 'kidney' style grille shape, in this instance, and thankfully, much smaller than some of the more brutish iterations of recent years. The signature 'Hofmeister kink' on the rearmost window pillar. After these, the designers had free rein. The tall fascia is still impressive enough to give the car an unmissable presence when trying to nose into moving traffic. The rear, with a very distinctive lighting pattern, will distinguish the car from behind in these upcoming dark evenings. Overall the new iX3 looks leaner than the predecessor, thanks to being a little longer and rather lower, which provides both more legroom for passengers and some extra luggage space.
The interior has drama and a technological buzz. The clean basic dashboard structure sports a centre screen with edge-to-edge graphics and a kinky shape that is quite attractive and shows its information and virtual buttons in bright and colourful fashion. The driver information is provided by a panoramic screen that runs the full width of the windscreen base (the Citroën C3 uses a similar system, though it's only in front of the driver). The owner can decide which 'widgets' to have across the panorama, besides the essentials such as speed. The centre console offers charging for two phones, and also houses the transmission selector and the radio volume. The really futuristic item is the steering wheel, styled to encourage the quarter-to-three hold that I learned during a driving course with the company many years ago. The button controls on the wheel have their own distinctive styling, all quite intuitive. Some of the buttons only become visible when triggered, such as by an incoming call.
The seats, front and rear, are a comfortable mix of artificial leather and suede, and I found them well supportive and long-distance comfortable. The middle rear seat is best used for a smaller person, but there's lots of legroom.
There's a lot of improved tech in the drivetrain. Notably with the battery pack, which is next-generation and offers a 20 per cent energy efficiency improvement over the previous iX3. Worth noting too is that, taking overall lifecycle CO2 reduction, this car reaches emissions break-even with a combustion-engined car at around the 20,000km stage: that's a 42 per cent reduction compared to its predecessor, which should give owners something of a warm glow of smugness.
The rated range is up to 805km, my calculations in my time suggest a real-world figure of around 680km, which is in itself impressive anyway. If you're at a fast charger, you can get up to 372km in ten minutes. There's 469hp available, which will allow a sprint to 100km/h in under five seconds (if you do a lot of that, forget about my range calculations).
I took delivery of the new iX3 expecting to be impressed. But not as much as I actually was. This is one of those cars that you really enjoy, and look forward to the next while every time you click the key fob to open it up. It's not any one thing; more that in their work in the development of the car, including directing those 2,700 component suppliers, they have put together a vehicle that just feels right in almost every aspect. That's what makes the brand premium.
PRICE: From €66,985. WHAT I LIKED: The determination to get something right.
