BMW shows new flagship - first electric SUVs car

BMW shows new flagship - competitors earlier ready for mass production

Traveling in the living room - this is what BMW is hoping for with its SUV iNext from 2021 onwards. In China and America, the group wants to earn a lot of money.

BMW has introduced its new flagship: The iNext is a fully electric and highly autonomous driving SUV with a new design. Although it does not come as a production model until 2021. But so the Munich left the stage not only the competitors Mercedes and Audi, who are celebrating the premieres of their first electric SUVs.

"The manufacturers eye themselves very strong," says the car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the University of Duisburg-Essen. "Mercedes has introduced its EQC, Audi has immediately announced the start of production for its e-tron." The two rivals are here a tad faster than BMW: "They show real cars, since the production is already on, which will come in 2019 on the market."

750 kilometers range

However, BMW understands the iNext as a big leap - as a "Zukunftsbaukasten" of the Group. For example, the driver should be able to leave the steering wheel completely to the car for a long time: "We guarantee Level 3. Technology for Level 4 is already in the car," said Chief Development Officer Klaus Fröhlich in Munich. This also explains why the car does not go into production until 2021: "The challenges of autonomous driving are enormous," he also emphasized with regard to accidents of other manufacturers. In addition, in the year 2021, batteries will be available for a range of 750 kilometers.

The inmates of the long-distance self-driving car should feel like in a living room - with parquet flooring, recessed pedals and three-legged armchairs in front, an asymmetrical sofa and carpet floor in the back and a coffee table in the middle of the car. The windscreen merges into a panoramic roof, the absence of the center column between the doors opens a great view.

BMW and Tesla under time pressure

display

"We wanted to create a new favorite place," said designer Matthias Junghanns. The car is full of technology. But it is almost invisible, most of it is controlled by speech and simple gestures. Like the competition, BMW also sees the main market for such five-meter-long e-SUVs in the US and China. In Munich, New York, San Francisco, and Beijing, the iNext journalist was introduced - aboard a cargo plane in which a 30-tonne show stage was installed.

Dudenhöfer says: "Studies are beautiful, the reality is even more beautiful until BMW comes, everyone else is already there." The electric Jaguar i-pace drive today in everyday life already more than 500 kilometers. "Now Mercedes and Audi come in. For the Chinese, Byton comes in 2019 with his electric SUV, which can also drive fully automatic, the new brand NIO already has their ES8 in production, Geely brings with the brand Lynk & Co electric SUVs, the Volvo subsidiary Polestar starts in 2019 with the electric car Polestar 2 with 560 kilometers range - and, and, and. " For BMW, he sees a danger: "If one waits too long as a premium manufacturer, there is a risk of losing points in the premium claim."

On the other hand, one could also take over, as the problems Tesla showed. "Tesla is running out of time, the Americans now have to deliver the Model 3 and make a profit," says Dudenhöffer.

2021 is serious - New CO2 targets

Whether the infrastructure is sufficient, whether the customers hesitate or access - the policy puts pressure on the automakers. In China, 10 percent of newly sold cars will have to be electrified next year. "And in 2021 it will be serious, then come the new CO2 targets in the EU," says Dudenhöffer. "BMW needs in Europe then 100,000 all-electric cars to avoid fines, as well as Daimler."