It was announced a long time ago, and it’s not until 2020 that we’ll see it in dealerships, but here it is already in the form of a concept. The BMW iX3, or the first real electric BMW, since the BMW i3 is too original to be considered a normal BMW (we will also discard the electric Mini planned for 2019). So an X3, or an understandable choice, since under the top of an SUV, there is more room to house batteries. This vehicle is therefore presented in the form of a concept, but it is more for reasons of industrialization than development. With BMWi, BMW has been building electric cars for several years, it has proven its know-how. There is no design concern.
The features of this concept are as follows. An electric motor of 200 kW, and a battery with a capacity of 70 kWh. Average numbers, especially for the battery, but they’re not definitive. When the Hyundai Kona EV, a car that has nothing premium, has a 64 kWh battery, we expect much better from the BMW X3, a high-end car from a higher segment... The charging power of 150 kW could also change, but we can already be surprised by our illustration of the overall modest volume of the battery. Another surprise is that this BMW will have nothing German but its development. BMW is an international group, it already proves this by manufacturing its X5 in the United States, and even more with the future production iX3, which will be produced in China. And it will be its only place of production for the foreseeable future. This means that Europeans who want to buy an electric BMW will find themselves buying a car imported from China.
There is certainly a logic in this fact, since it is the first car market in the world, and especially for the electric, but it remains that the idea of a Chinese BMW will shock some. And not just a little.
