Tag Archives: BMW

News

BMW May Bring Back the Range Extender—And China Might Be the Reason Why

BMW, a company that once swore off the range extender after the quirky i3 REx, might be preparing for a comeback tour. Early reports hinted that the next-generation X5 could get a gasoline-powered generator, and now Bloomberg is echoing the same message—BMW is actively evaluating range-extender variants for upper-tier models like the X5 and 7 Series, according to insiders familiar with the brand’s long-term planning.

If you’re wondering why BMW would dust off a technology it abandoned years ago, the answer comes down to a single word: China.

China’s EREV Surge Is Too Big to Ignore

BMW’s grip on the Chinese market isn’t what it once was, but the region is still the automaker’s most important. In 2024, nearly one-third of all BMW Group sales—29.2%—went to China, outpacing the U.S. and Germany combined. And unlike Europe and North America, China has developed a serious taste for extended-range EVs (EREVs).

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, EREV sales jumped almost 50% in the first five months of 2025 alone. Homegrown brands like BYD (with the Yangwang U8), Aito’s M9, and Li Auto’s runaway-success L9 are dominating the segment. Their formula is simple: electric driving for everyday use, plus a compact, fuel-sipping generator for when the battery runs dry.

Sound familiar? That’s essentially the same recipe BMW cooked up with the i3 REx—just scaled up for massive luxury SUVs.

Why BMW Might Be Revisiting the Idea

The pitch makes sense: a next-gen X5 or 7 Series that delivers pure EV performance most of the time, but with a compact engine humming along at a constant rpm to juice the battery on long highway runs. No wheel-driving from the engine, no hybrid complexity—just a generator smoothing out the road-trip anxiety that comes with big EVs and big distances.

And it’s not just China showing interest. In the U.S., range-extender thinking is quietly gaining traction in the heavy-duty segment. Ram will use a generator-supported electric powertrain in its upcoming Ramcharger, and the reborn Volkswagen Scout lineup is expected to offer something similar. It’s a way to keep towing capability and road-trip freedom without going back to a full gas-powered drivetrain.

Europe throws another wrinkle into the mix. Regulators are still tweaking what the 2035 combustion-engine ban will and won’t allow. Depending on how “emission-neutral” rules evolve, future EREVs might skate through as compliant, creating yet another reason for BMW to keep its options open.

Inside the Engineering Playbook

Should BMW pull the trigger, the likely blueprint remains close to the i3’s:

  • The engine never drives the wheels.
  • It runs at an optimal, fixed rpm to maximize efficiency.
  • It acts purely as a generator, feeding electricity back into the pack.

BMW already has a suite of compact, highly efficient gasoline engines ready to adapt for generator duty. Combined with the company’s EV-first platforms and existing battery know-how, development time wouldn’t be as long as it was a decade ago.

But Don’t Get Too Excited Yet

Officially, BMW isn’t confirming anything. When Bloomberg reached out, a company spokesperson stuck to the corporate script: BMW is “continuously analyzing usage patterns, customer needs, and market developments” and “reviewing the market potential of various technologies.”

Behind the scenes, the story is even murkier. Sources tell us no range-extender programs have been formally approved. Nothing is locked in. Not yet.

But the signals are getting harder to miss. China’s appetite for EREVs is exploding. U.S. buyers are warming to generator-backed electric trucks and SUVs. Europe may soon carve out regulatory breathing room for the format. And BMW has two large, spacious platforms—the X5 and 7 Series—that could take the hardware without compromise.

If the range extender is coming back from the dead, BMW might be the brand bold enough to resurrect it.

Source: Automotive News

News

How BMW’s Designworks Shapes the Modern Dashboard

In 2025, the fiercest automotive battles aren’t happening under the hood—they’re happening on the dashboard. As cars evolve into rolling smart devices, the interface in front of the driver has become every bit as important as the engine beneath them. And at BMW’s Designworks studio, that digital battleground is where the future of the brand is being drawn, tapped, and swiped into existence.

The Quiet Power of Interface Design

Car design used to be defined by sheet metal and stance. Now, the first impression often comes from a boot-up animation rather than a sculpted fender. More than ever, a clunky interface can sink an otherwise excellent car.

Matthew Potter, Director of Interaction Design at Designworks, has watched this shift unfold from the inside. He recalls the early days of iDrive—the system that debuted with the 2001 BMW 7 Series—as a turning point.

“Things were a lot simpler back then,” he says. Early screens were basically big buttons in digital form. One dial, one menu, one mission: deliver the ultimate sense of simplicity.

Fast-forward two decades and simplicity is a much more complicated target.

Global Drivers, Global Differences

Potter and his team now wrestle with questions that sound more like tech-market research than car design.

What apps dominate in Germany?
What features do Americans expect to see instantly?
How do Chinese users organize information?

Across markets, the answers diverge dramatically.

“People in the United States really want convenience,” Potter says. “They want more visual, more simplicity. They want more playfulness.” German users? They tend to appreciate dense data, more reading, more structure—digital efficiency over digital delight.

And that’s only part of the equation. Even within a single country, tastes split. Drivers in Texas approach technology differently than those in California. Multiply that by the global footprint of BMW, and it becomes clear why Designworks operates studios in Munich, Shanghai, and Los Angeles.

Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW Group’s design chief, puts it bluntly: “The studios have two tasks.” One is to detect global trends that will matter to all BMW customers. The other is to understand what’s uniquely important locally.

Finding Balance in the Chaos

If there’s a single theme behind modern BMW UI design, it’s balance. Balance between emotion and usability. Between playfulness and precision. Between global coherence and regional flavor.

“You can make a really cool interface,” Potter says. “But if you can’t use it, it’s kind of useless.”

So every element of BMW’s digital cockpit—the icons, the menus, the layout—is shaped by this push and pull. Interior screens may stretch wider than ever, but every pixel is debated, tested, and tuned.

What’s striking is that despite all the input from global markets, BMW’s design DNA still holds firm. Van Hooydonk notes that even when international preferences diverge, nothing ever emerges “counterintuitive to what our brands stand for.”

Instead, the variety of perspectives sharpens the end product.

“We take these things on board from what we learn from China or US customers,” he says, “and they all make our products better.”

The Dashboard as Identity

Whether you’re admiring a new BMW from the lot or watching the startup sequence from the driver’s seat, what you see is more than just software. It’s the visible result of a worldwide design conversation—one that stretches across cultures and continents.

And in the era of the connected car, that conversation is becoming the defining part of the brand.

The future of driving, it turns out, might not be written in horsepower figures or wind-tunnel numbers. It might be written on the screen.

Source: BMW

News

BMW iX3 Shows Off Its Sculpted New Cabin

Deciding how to spec a luxury car is a bit like standing in front of a dessert buffet: everything looks good, and somehow you feel pressured to choose the perfect combination. BMW’s new iX3 leans into that dilemma with a configurator that seems determined to overwhelm you—in a good way. If personalization is the new luxury, the iX3 is wearing a tailored suit.

BMW Spain has now shown off one possible flavor of the electric SUV, and it’s a sharp one. Dipped in Ocean Wave Blue and dressed with the M Sport Package, this configuration rides on 22-inch Individual aerodynamic wheels—a size that looks borderline comical on some crossovers but surprisingly proportional here. It’s a reminder that BMW still understands stance, even as its cars go steadily more digital.

A Cabin That’s White—But Not Too White

Step inside, and the real show begins. The example wears Digital White Veganza, BMW’s artificial leather that aims for a premium feel without the ethical baggage. But eagle-eyed fans will notice something missing: that futuristic white steering wheel BMW showed in early press shots. It’s not a mistake; it’s just not available yet. The white wheel won’t arrive until January 2026, leaving early buyers with the standard M Sport steering wheel. Those craving something fancier can pay extra for an M-branded wheel—BMW hasn’t forgotten how to upsell.

Fans of Easter eggs will appreciate BMW’s lightly refreshed roundel sprinkled around the cabin, including one spot you won’t see very often: the front trunk lid. Pop it open, and you’ll find a printed payload limit of 10 kilograms for the frunk, which offers 58 liters of space. BMW even added drain plugs, so owners can fill it with ice for road-trip refreshments. A practical cooler built directly into your EV? That’s the kind of engineering whimsy we’re here for.

Real Cargo For Real Life

Out back, the iX3 sticks to EV crossover fundamentals: 520 liters of space behind the rear seats and 1,750 liters with them folded. This particular spec includes the optional power tow hitch, and paired with the launch-spec 50 xDrive model, it’s rated for 2,000 kilograms of towing. Expect upcoming lower-powered “40” variants to post more modest figures.

BMW also hid a few clever touches in the exterior lighting department. Illuminated door handles, a dramatic projected M logo on the ground, and light strips around both the charging port and the grille (the latter not standard) all add a little theater to the daily walk-up. One of the closed-off kidney grilles hides a front-facing camera with a built-in washer, while the rest of the driver-assistance sensors are tucked behind a glossy black panel.

Already a Hit Before It Hits the Road

The iX3 hasn’t even reached customers yet—deliveries in Europe start next spring—but BMW claims demand is already stretching deep into 2026. That’s good news for the company’s new Debrecen plant in Hungary, which looks set for a packed production schedule.

If this early build is any indication, the Neue Klasse era won’t just be about electrons and efficiency. It’ll also be about choice—and maybe a bit of personality that BMW has been accused of losing along the way.

Source: BMW