“Ice and burn will never disappear. Never disappear,” said Jochen Goller, member of the BMW AG board of directors for customers, brands and sales. With this individual line, BMW underlined a strategy that we have been pursuing for months: a double future, combat and electrical power supply, and the profitability of flexibility, not absolutely.
This philosophy is now codified in BMW’s decision to consolidate its entire line -up on just three platforms:
Platform only combustion: A dedicated ice architecture for cars on beginners. These will continue to serve markets in which the EV launch is delayed and the infrastructure is unreliable. BMW knows that in regions such as India, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, petrol farms, for sales until well into the 2030s will remain of crucial importance.
Multi-energy platform: The volume seller such as the X5 and 5 series designed to carry gasoline, hybrid and EV drive drive will offer BMW the opportunity to meet a single model family with different market requirements.
New class EV platform: BMW’s future Tech flagship. The NCO platform begins with the IX3 and the i3 limousine just announced this spring. The new class will be easier packaging, faster charging, new battery meal and the Superbrain software “Heart of Joy”, which defines the EV future of BMW.
How Kern -BMW models fit
- 3 series / X3: Both are divided into identities. New class versions (Na0 i3 Limousine/Touring, NA5 IX3) start from 2025 to 2026, while the ice jaws (G50 3 series, G45 X3) will continue until mid-2030. Customers in the EU and Asia will first see EVS, while petrol and hybrid versions in markets such as the USA and the Middle East are of essential importance.
- 5 series / x5: You can expect overlapping here too. The NC0 i5 is planned for 2030, while the next generation X5 (G65, due 2026) with combustion and BEV variants, including a planned hydrogen option, runs by 2033.
- 7 Series / X7: The G70/i7 pairing already shows the double strategy of BMW. Future i7S (ND0, from 2029) will sit on new class, while ice-operated 7S and V8-controlled X7S (G67, 2027–2034) are continued in most markets.
- 8 series: The next 8 series (G75-G77) will run until 2033, with new class BEV versions (ND0-based i7 GT derivatives) being standing in late 2020 and early 2030.
BMWS smaller offers
The big question here is how BMW divides certain models on these three platforms. Entry crossover like the X1 and 2 series could only become ice cream, while others go dual-pad or EV-NUR-EV depending on the regional demand. Production plans that we have seen (NB0 I1, NB5 IX1, NB8 I2) confirm that new cars come from new class, but whether BMW ICE X1S is next to it is still a debate.
Take away
Although ice cream lasted “indefinitely”, BMW does not return from EVS. New class is probably the company’s most ambitious technical leap since the 1970s. But Goller’s words make it clear that BMW sees a future in which EVS and ice wagon run in parallel. For drivers, this means that the inline-Six, the V8 and even a future M3 are not going with a petrol engine anywhere. For BMW, it guarantees profitability in every global market, no matter how unequal the transition to electromotions proves.
