BMW’s Neue Klasse next-generation EV platform arrives in 2025, and that means some exciting new all-electric cars are heading our way from Munich. But it looks like at least one current combustion car will be retired to make way for new product.
The X4 SUV, or SAV (sports activity vehicle) as BMW likes to call it, is a fastback version of upright X3 and has been around since 2015, a second-gen car being introduced for the 2019 model year. The X4 experienced a strong surge in demand when the updated model hit dealers, but reports from people with inside knowledge of BMW’s model plans say Munich bosses didn’t predict enough future sales to give the green light to a third-generation combustion-powered X4.
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BMW Blog, citing intel on Bimmer Post, reports that BMW’s original plans called for both combustion and electric versions of the X4. The gas-powered crossover was to be based on an updated version of today’s CLAR architecture, while the electric version would get the Neue Klasse platform, and that’s apparently what will also happen to the 3-Series and X3 to allow BMW to offer both combustion and electric powertrain options.
But now it looks like only the electric iX4 will make it to the finish line. It’s expected to arrive some time in 2026, one year after the launch of the first cars to use the Neue Klasse platform. Those cars will be an electric equivalent to the 3-Series potentially called the i3 and aimed at the Tesla Model 3 (the i4 is more of a coupe shape), and the iX3.
Unlike some other premium brands that are throwing everything behind electric, pledging to ditch gas engines altogether by the end of the decade, BMW is acting more cautiously. It has committed to EVs making 50 percent of its cars by 2030, which still leaves space for plenty of combustion vehicles in dealer showrooms. But it seems there might not be quite enough space for the X4.