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BMW NZ’s EV pitch set for power surge
Richard Bosselman
July 10, 2025
Confirmation today the brand’s groundbreaking Neue Klasse push will start here next year with iX3.
‘NEUE Klasse’ is the name of BMW’s dedicated electric-vehicle architecture - it represents a pivotal shift in the make’s battery car strategy and Kiwis will experience it next year.
Our involvement starts with the next iX3 (above); the battery-pure sports utility promising 800 kilometres’ range fully reveals at the Munich motor show on September 5.
It will be on sale here in 2026; exactly when is not yet being shared.
After that, logically in 2027 - though BMW New Zealand can not confirm or deny - will come phase two, the new 3-Series sedan, which will unveil internationally next year as the i3.
And then? BMW Germany cites Neue Klasse as being a specific basis for at least six completely new EVs by 2028.
As it also plans other new and updated electrified - so full electric, plus plug-ins - models as well, the period is set to be super busy.
Neue Klasse is at the pinnacle. A gamble or a safe bet?
Electrification is proving a more uneven path for the car industry than many expected.
Outside of China and Norway, electric car take up around the world has stumbled since 2023. Some brands have frozen future EV introductions; others have abandoned them; most are recognising need for greater flexibility.
New Zealand was a particular basket case for EV last year.
Withdrawal of subsidises then introduction of Road User Charges during a cooling period for new car action halted the promising pace of the previous three years and triggered distributors into panic selling existing stock.
The sector is showing recovery now, but it’s slow and presently many brands are reluctant to even restock.
BMW New Zealand managing director Adam Shaver (above), in a half yearly briefing in Auckland today that was his final media involvement here (he’s off to Germany next week), concedes “the market we are in has become volatile.”
However, he is more positive about EV trends right now, forecasts the sector will regain health and, because of that, sees massive potential from Neue Klasse.
“New Zealand is still shaking off the trauma of 2024 when it comes to EVs,” he says.
“We have a natural market recovery that will extend to the next one or two years.
“But at the same time we have a huge number of new EVs coming into the market, including those that offer significant jumps in what EVs can do.”
That means, he believes, a lot of people who might not have had interest in the technology previously might change their minds.
“Suddenly the reasons for not having an EV might not be there.
“So I think there will be natural increase in demand. Many brands will see this happening, but I believe we (BMW) will see that happening far sooner.”
Even with the market in a lull, electric penetration is working for BMW NZ and 2025 seems set to be a solid year.
So far, full electrics command 27 percent of BMW-MINI sales and have accounted for 396 registrations year to date, so potential to surpass last year’s total of 493 is solid.
The strengthening EV penetration helped the Auckland-based distributor last year reclaim No.1 in the premium segment for the first time in a decade and see overall national market share almost double where it stood in 2022.
For the first half of this year, it has seen a double-digit sales uplift. Combined BMW and MINI sales of 1446 represent a 29 percent fit on 2024 same period results, with both brands prospering individually.
Shaver remains excited by Government’s pre-election promise of funding 10,000 additional chargers but is anxious to see that realised.
BMW NZ has also on its own bat delivered 120 destination chargers - aimed at its own customers, but nonetheless available to any one - across the country, sited at hotspots.
The electric infrastructure will require even more work to be fully up to speed for Neue Klasse, which brings a new 800V electrical architecture, called Gen6, replacing the 400V system of earlier BMW EV models.
A clean-sheet design into which Munich has invested more than $3.8 billion - including an all-new production plant in Hungary that will build iX3 - Neue Klasse has been years in the making; big funding decisions were made five years ago.
Cars have new round-cell batteries made via a ‘cell-to-pack’ process, in which cylindrical battery cells are placed directly into the battery housing without first being assembled into modules.
Compared with the prismatic cells used by BMW’s Gen5 drivetrain, the new battery has 20 percent higher energy density, 30 percent faster charging and an estimated 30 percent range increase.
Keeping all in check is a new zonal electronic architecture, dubbed the Heart of Joy, which processes data 10 times faster than BMW’s current system while cutting wiring weight by 30 percent.
"Heart of Joy" is also set to revolutionise driving dynamics by integrating drivetrain and braking functions. In most scenarios, the system’s energy recuperation eliminates the need for conventional braking, boosting efficiency by up to 25 percent.
Neue Klasse cars have BMW’s new Panoramic iDrive system, which ditches the traditional instrument cluster in favour of a slim, dot-matrix-style display housed within the base of the windscreen.
This is complemented by a rhomboid central touchscreen and an optional 3D head-up display – all running BMW’s new OS X software with the latest over-the-air software update capability and enhanced voice interaction via a revised Intelligent Personal Assistant.
At the moment, the longest range model in in the current generation of electric BMWs is the iX, which cites 701km based on European WLTP testing. The improvement BMW is talking about would see this figure increase to 800km. That’s the WLTP-tested range BMW cites for iX3; meaning a lift of 337km or 73 percent more than the current electric X3.
As well as going further, recharging is faster. The current electric X3 peaks at 150kW; iX3’s peak DC charging rate allows a 350km top-up in just 10 minutes under ideal conditions. Bi-directional charging is also supported now, meaning the new iX3 can send power to your home or external devices.
The build up to Neue Klasse has been stepped, with aspects progressively revealed through concepts.
First out was the Vision Dee (above), a compact sedan exploring new ideas about digital interaction. Then the Vision Neue Klasse sedan heralded a dramatic new design direction.
After that, the Vision Neue Klasse X - accepted as a very coherent preview of the new iX3 and its Panoramic iDrive system.
In February came the Vision Driving Experience (below), a quad-motor sedan, officially pitched as a test bed for the high-tech electronics set to go into all Neue Klass electric vehicles, but
Unofficially? It’s the rolling test lab for the electric M3, out in 2027 - alongside a petrol type. Because old habits dies hard.
Back to iX3. It’s set to arrive with a choice of two powertrains: a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive one and a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive version.
The latter pairs an asynchronous motor at the front with a synchronous motor at the rear, delivering up to 300kW and 600Nm. Expect 0-100kmh in less than five seconds and a higher top speed than the previous iX3’s 180kmh.
BMW committed to electric in 2013 with i3. But other than its first series-production EV, and the i8, each new one has been based on a shared platform called CLAR originally engineered to support combustion engines. Not conceived for full electrification, as Neue Klasse is.
Regardless that the EV transition road is rockier than anticipated, BMW remains committed. Its target this year is to hit the milestone of three million electrified vehicles sold since the launch of the i3 and i8.
Plug in hybrids (PHEVs) also remain a crucial part of the company’s electrification strategy. Last year, nearly 600,000 electrified BMWs were delivered to customers, accounting for almost 25 percent of total sales.
Shaver says BMW is broad-minded about customer tastes and how deeply the world has to immerse into electric.
Some loyal customers want to stick with internal combustion; BMW will keep making cars to suit them. Others want to put a toe in the water with plug-in hybrids; BMW has those, as well. And it still sees merit in developing cars dedicated to hydrogen, with fuel cell technology.
“So we have people who want to stick with what they know and love, we have people who are uncertain about range and charging infrastructure, so they’ll go into plug-in.
“And we have people who are extremely excited about all the new technology and for whom an EV fits perfectly.
“The most important thing is that our strategy is based on technology openness … BMW offers pretty much whatever you would like and it’s up the customers at the end of the day to choose.
“We cannot shove technology down their throats, they need to be able to choose.”