author|Zhang Jixin

editor|Mao Shiyang

original content by AutoPix (ID: autopix)

BMW has finally taken action. The first Neue Klasse test vehicles, using BMW's new-generation architecture, have rolled off the production line in Hungary. What does this mean? In the best-case scenario, BMW can catch up with the electric vehicle technology that has left it an entire generation behind, including Tesla. To start with, BMW's current electric vehicles are indeed falling behind.

It is evident that within the realm of new energy intelligent vehicles, BMW lags significantly behind Tesla, not to mention Huawei, NIO, XPeng, and ZEEKR, in terms of cabin experience, intelligent driving capabilities, and electronic configurations. What exactly caused this lag? A key reason is the heavy burden of BMW's traditional architecture. Before the birth of Neue Klasse, most of BMW's electric vehicles were developed on the CLAR platform.

CLAR is BMW's rear-wheel-drive platform, which has given birth to many classic models such as the familiar 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, as well as the X3, X5, and X6. These models are classic, but CLAR was first introduced in 2015, compatible with the previous generation of vehicle technology. This has prevented most of BMW's electric vehicles from achieving the same level of cross-domain integration in vehicle architecture as XPeng and Tesla.

How limiting is the old platform to the architecture? On the CLAR platform, BMW developed a car, the iX, with great effort. To accommodate software upgrades, BMW also focused on expanding the internal communication bandwidth of this car. Despite the sophisticated design of its internal structure, the car still retains five domain controllers. During the same period, XPeng had only three.

Not only did the iX fail to catch up with its peers, but it also failed completely in the Chinese market due to its high initial price range of 700,000 to 1 million yuan. BMW realized the seriousness of the problem, leading to the birth of the new electric platform, Neue Klasse. On this platform, through integrated domain controllers, BMW's new energy vehicles can accommodate all innovations of the intelligent electric vehicle era.

Like new forces, it can support a central computing system in the future. For example, to continue the personality tag of "sheer driving pleasure," BMW plans to develop a central computing system named "Heart of Joy" for this new platform, integrating all functions related to driving, chassis, braking, and steering into a single box. This makes the system's response speed 10 times faster than traditional systems.

BMW has encapsulated all its understanding of driving control in this box. "Neue Klasse" was a significant transformation for BMW in 1961, laying the foundation for the BMW we are familiar with over the past 60 years. Perhaps BMW hopes that Neue Klasse 2025 can continue its philosophy in the electric vehicle era, just as it did in the 1960s. Although BMW is only catching up and it is difficult to say whether it will surpass others, in an era where new energy vehicles are becoming increasingly competitive and losing their individuality, we also hope that BMW can bring us something different.

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