BMW i Vision Dee: preview of ‘electric 3 Series’ for 2025

Highlights BMW i Vision Dee

• Reveals the lines of the new EV
• New 3 Series-like sedan Neue Class in 2025
• First of New Class
• Full of gadgets

Anyone who goes shopping for a fully electric car at BMW will already come across a set of electric models in the delivery range. We call the iX1, iX3, i4, i7 and iX. The first four are electric versions of models that are also available with combustion engines and plug-in hybrid powertrains. The iX does not share its carriage with another BMW model, but it is on a platform that you will also find models with combustion engines. BMW believes in what it does The Power of Choice names and likes to offer the consumer a wide variety of powertrains. But also in Munich they are interested in a modular platform developed specifically for electric cars. That will come, around 2025. BMW’s scalable EV base debuts among a range of brand new electric models that make it the New Class a reference to the series of the same name that were on sale in the 1960s and 1970s. During the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, BMW is already showing a glimpse of what you can expect from those Neue Klasse newcomers.

Meet the BMW i Vision Dee, a futuristically dressed concept car that – if you think away the gloss – undoubtedly gives away the lines of what may be an electric equivalent of the 3-series of the Neue Klasse family. BMW can use such a competitor to the Tesla Model 3. There is an electric i3 of the current 3 series, but it is not sold outside China.

BMW i Vision Dee: full of tech gadgets, but with relevant lines.

Important line

Viewed from the side, it is definitely a BMW. We see a sharply sloping front that dives down as if it wants to swallow the asphalt with some eagerness. We also notice a clean shoulder line that ends in the characteristic Hofmeister kink, which debuted not entirely coincidentally on the coupés of the original Neue Klasse from several decades ago. Well-known BMW ingredients, but you see them to a lesser extent at the front and rear. At least, not as you have known it from BMW for years.

Anyone who can still remember the i Vision Circular Concept that BMW presented in September 2021 will probably recognize some details in the body of this i Vision Dee. Just like that small futuristic preview of a compact EV ‘before 2040’, the BMW i Vision Dee also has a new interpretation of the traditional kidney grille. Its two components are spread over almost the entire width of the front. They are no longer between the headlights, because the lighting is incorporated in this visually defining part. The lighting itself is also a new interpretation of something traditional. For example, BMW has replaced the classic round – or later more angular – units with two sets of digital LED stripes.

The 2021 BMW i Vision Circular (left) has a similar design language.

Not charmed by this design? Then we fear that you will not find the Neue Klasse models beauties. BMW clearly speaks about a design language and so it is almost certain that various design elements of the i Vision Dee will return to new electric BMWs in a few years.

Focus on technology

Enough about the appearance, BMW does not seem to care about that with the i Vision Dee. The ‘Dee’ part of the name stands for Digital Emotional Experience and that brings us to the gadgets and other modern technology that BMW has hidden in i Vision Dee. It is not for nothing that it was presented at a tech fair. The show car reflects BMW’s vision of “the future digital experience both inside and outside the car,” according to BMW. That sounds extremely woolly.

BMW i Vision Dee: The design of the taillights mirrors that of the headlights.

According to BMW, digital functions of cars in the future will go much further than, for example, voice control, intelligent assistance systems or infotainment systems. BMW wants to turn the car into an ‘intelligent companion’, loaded with digital indulgence without losing the driving pleasure. BMW envisions a future full of digital functions for its models and with this car, the manufacturer says it underlines the importance of digitization for its future models.

Virtual worlds and head-up display

Will that be a bit more specific? Yes. For example, we find the so-called BMW Mixed Reality Slider in the interior of the BMW i Vision Dee. This is a virtual slider that has five positions and allows you to determine how much digital content is visible on the head-up display. So you can opt for only the most necessary, think of something like the top speed, but also for extensive augmented reality and – hold on – ‘virtual worlds’. Thanks to dimmable windows, the real world can be completely or partially hidden from the view of the occupants. Mixed Reality, BMW calls that. This allows the i Vision Dee to appeal to the senses without the need for additional aids. This creates a new dimension of driving pleasure for the user’. BMW lost us there again.

BMW even conjures up a digital lady with blue hair for its new show car.

Back to reality. The extensive head-up display of the BMW i Vision Dee mainly demonstrates how the new, large Neue Class models from BMW will more or less take shape. They get a head-up display that uses the entire width of the windscreen. Calculate in a simple way to determine the amount of information you want to see yourself.

Car with facial expressions

At BMW, digitization is also related to the exterior of its cars. For example, the i Vision Dee is able to play a personalized welcome tune complete with light and sound effects. The already described new interpretation of the kidney grille plays a role in this. BMW even introduces a new term to explain what goes on there. The brand speaks of ‘phygital’ (physical and digital) images that appear on the panel. The BMW i Vision Dee should even have different facial expressions. The study model can communicate with the outside world by virtually expressing moods. Or is that going to be very cartoonish? Who knows, but if you really go for cartoons, you can avatar of itself projected onto the side windows to further dress up the welcome tune.

A modern interpretation of the well-known BMW front.

Colorful

It becomes more concrete with the special color of the i Vision Dee. Or rather: all the colors of the i Vision Dee. The exterior is completely covered in some BMW e-Ink which makes it possible to choose from 32 different colors. And not just to finish the car in one color. No. The body is covered with 240 e-Ink segments that are individually controlled and that means you can conjure up the wildest patterns in different colors on the i Vision Dee.

New Class

BMW’s first Neue Klasse model should hit the market in 2025. Probably not one, but two new electric BMWs of that model family will be presented this year. The first will be a 3-series-like of which the i Vision Dee is probably already giving away quite a bit. The second will be a ‘sporty SUV’. Count on a copy with a relatively steeply sloping roofline.