Vision Neue Klasse previews BMW's reinvention

The last time Neue Klasse was used in BMW circles, BMW was going through its last major phase of evolution in the early 1960s and effectively birthing a line of cars that would become the 5 Series. It was literally a response to a new class of people, the middle class, which had ballooned after World War 2 – people who weren’t poor, but weren’t rich, who desired a motorcar that wasn’t necessarily opulent, but still carried status. So yes, Vision Neue Klasse is a huge deal, very much laying the rails that BMW will ride into an all-electric future.

Indeed, the journey that began with a strange pod-like futuristic EV, the BMW i3, will have its next major checkpoint with what we know and love BMW for: A three-box saloon, BMW’s first designed from the ground up to be electric and electric alone.

BMW Vision Neue Klasse – a contemporary retro design

In terms of design, many will recognise the iVision DEE Concept in its silhouette and basic styling elements – the window line, its face, its rump. The DEE in turn used nods to the original ‘Neue Klasse’ and other earlier BMW saloons that set the tone for what we know and love today, in the overall silhouette and in the ‘Shark Nose’ face. In all, Vision Neue Klasse is intended to do just the same, for future ranges of BMW saloons. 

Only this is a bit closer to what we might see on forecourts than DEE, in place of a 3 Series, for instance. This is very much intended to be a pared-back design, translating only the most integral pieces of BMW language – the Hofmeister Kink, the kidney ‘grilles’ and so on.

“The design of the Neue Klasse is typically BMW and so progressive it looks like we skipped a model generation,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design.

Inside BMW Neue Klasse – windscreen-wide HUD with ‘Panoramic Vision’

The simplified theme continues on the inside where, like the new Mini we saw yesterday, a lot of what the car does is now within the screen, and controllable by voice using the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant. Very much a flavour of the future is BMW Panoramic Vision, which takes the head-up displays we’ve known and loved these past two decades, to a whole new level. 

Available for the first time in the 2025 Neue Klasse, the entire width of the windscreen is a canvas for projection of information, which will complement the enhanced BMW HUD. Driver and passenger will see and be able to interact with Panoramic Vision with voice and gesture controls. Like in the Mini, the mood lighting also complements what’s being projected to unify the whole experience, which changes based on My Modes, of which ‘Sport’ sits among others. And you thought the Theatre Screen in the 7 Series was wild? 

A new iDrive system powers all of this and is what BMW calls the ‘interface between real and virtual worlds’, which is a fancy way of saying iDrive but for a system that uses a projector and AR.

BMW Neue Klasse – more efficient and cleaner, from cradle to grave

Vision Neue Klasse features BMW’s in-development sixth-generation eDrive technology, which should deliver up to 30 per cent more range, 25 per cent more efficiency and speed up charging by 30 per cent. 

This, as with the Neue Klasse range of BMWs to come, is a more sustainable vehicle. The Vision Neue Klasse uses a much higher percentage of secondary raw materials, while reducing the variety of materials to simplify and clean up production. The next generation of BMWs will also be simpler to dismantle and thus, easier to recycle.

BMW Vision Neue Klasse – more than a concept for the 2026 3 Series

“The Neue Klasse represents a major technological leap that will take EfficientDynamics to new heights,” BMW Development Board of Management member Frank Weber.

“With the Neue Klasse, we have embarked on the biggest investment in the company’s history. We are not just writing the next chapter of BMW; we’re writing a whole new book. That’s why the Neue Klasse will certainly impact all model generations.”

Vision Neue Klasse is more exciting than a generic styling study and, indeed, is bigger than a flutter at what the next 3 Series will look like. It’s a manifesto. A statement of intent in terms of the entire BMW range of the future.

So there we have it. Vision Neue Klasse – electric, digital and circular. It doesn’t sound quite like BMW as we’ve come to know and love it. It’s our hope it remains ‘the ultimate driving machine’ in this new era. But for sure, it is at least in part, what BMW reckons it has to do to stay relevant in the years to come.