BMW Design Boss Says Future EVs Will Get More Mainstream Styling

Future electric vehicles from BMW will have more mellow designs than the i3 and i8, according to company design director Adrian van Hooydonk.

Speaking to Autocar, van Hooydonk said that the i3 and i8 were made to look so edgy to distinguish them from the brand’s ICE range and other EVs on the market.

However, with electric vehicles becoming more common, BMW no longer feels the need to make its electric models look so futuristic.

“Electric mobility will spread through our entire vehicle range in quite a short space of time – to the point that electric or plug-in hybrid is just another option box you tick as you order the car.

“The fact is that BMW customers want a dynamic car, whether it is a battery-electric vehicle or not, and so there’s is increasingly less reason to make these kinds of cars look different,” van Hooydonk said.

BMW’s new view on the designs of its electric models will be immediately apparent when the iX3 hits the market. Already shown in concept form, the electric SUV looks largely the same as regular X3 models, save for a few styling tweaks.

However, there is at least one all-electric BMW in the works that is set to make a statement with its design. This will be the Vision iNext, an SUV which will arrive in 2021 as the brand’s most advanced production vehicle. The concept looks dramatically different than any BMW SUV before it and doesn’t even feature B-pillars.

When the iNext arrives on showroom floors, it will feature numerous autonomous driving functions and offer a range of around 380 miles (611 km).