BMW seems set to return to its rear-wheel drive roots with the brand new Neue Klasse platform, which is able to abandon the front-drive structure of its entry-level mannequin variants because the German carmaker rolls out its subsequent technology of electrical automobiles (EVs).
The primary mannequin primarily based on the Neue Klasse platform is predicted to debut later this yr, ushering in a brand new period of electrification for the Bavarian model. Automobiles primarily based on the Neue Klasse platform will function improved electrical motor items able to delivering as much as 30 per cent extra vary than present electrical BMWs.
It’s a shift that marks an enormous step ahead for BMW, though the producer can be taking inspiration from its historical past as a proponent of rear-wheel drive.
Though Neue Klasse can accomodate wherever between one and 4 electrical drive motors, AutoExpress studies that the sixth-generation eDrive electrical motors can’t energy the entrance wheels alone.
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BMW 118
It is because the rear motor design incorporates a gearbox, whereas the entrance motor doesn’t. As a substitute, Neue Klasse will assist both rear- or all-wheel drive, each layouts that BMW is properly versed in.
Solely a handful of present BMW fashions ship drive solely to the entrance wheels – choose variants of the 1 Collection, 2 Collection, X1, iX1 and iX2.
Nonetheless, it’s a special story for the BMW-owned Mini model. The Cooper, Countryman, and Aceman nameplates all lean closely on the FWD structure.
All of the above BMW and Mini fashions will shift structure with the introduction of Neue Klasse. It’s a very vital change for Mini, a model synonymous with FWD.
BMW has at all times championed RWD as a key aspect of its recipe for the ‘final driving machine’. It took till 2014 for the marque to introduce its first FWD mannequin – the F45 technology 2 Collection – though it has been chargeable for FWD Minis since inheriting the model greater than 20 years in the past.
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Mini Cooper E
Whereas FWD is ready to be phased out from each lineups, don’t count on the cull to occur in a single day, as combustion fashions will stay on sale alongside the brand new Neue Klasse vary to start with.
BMW’s first electrical automobile (EV) constructed on the Neue Klasse platform would be the new iX3 mid-sized SUV, set to debut late this yr.
Six Neue Klasse-based sedans and SUVs will launch by 2028, with the brand new iX3 beginning proceedings earlier than the i3 – an electrical sibling to the 3 Collection – arrives in 2026.
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