BMW will be unveiling the Vision iNEXT Concept tomorrow, officially. The iNEXT Concept is going to be the brand’s all-electric hatchback concept that shows off BMW’s vision (get it?!) for the future. The Bavarians have been teasing this new concept for a few days now, showing off some videos and short clips of it, as we approach its official unveiling. Though it seems some one jumped the gun a bit, as new official photos of the iNEXT have been leaked.
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In these new leaked photos we get to see the Vision iNEXT in its entirety and it’s certainly a hatchback and not the sleek sedan we saw last year. Having said that, this isn’t necessarily replacing that car but showing off yet another future electric car that BMW will develop in the coming years. We know that BMW is preparing a massive electric car offensive and this will just be one of the cars in the pipeline.
With brands like Mercedes-Benz and Audi coming out with exciting new electric cars and concepts, the electric vehicles segment is heated up, with different visions being presented.
The Vision iNEXT is pretty sporty for a hatchback/crossover thing with some interesting wheel arches, that seem to be flared out with a squared design and that looks different and cool.
It also seems to have a really nice interior, one that’s very open and airy, even by EV standards. BMW also seems to have taken Tesla’s massive center screen design from the Model 3 and improved on it. So rather than just having one massive screen in the center, it has that plus a smaller screen in front of the driver for all normal driving information.
There also seems to be a roof made entirely from glass and a back seat that’s made from acid-washed jeans. In these photos, a woman sits in the back seat and is either hallucinating about an iDrive controller built into the rear seat or there’s some sort Gesture Control-like feature with lighting inside the seat for visual feedback.
Overall, the BMW Vision iNEXT Concept seems to be interesting, if not thrilling.
Full disclosure: BMW actually invited us to the embargoed reveal of the iNext concept earlier this week and we agreed, but since the pics are out, they’re fair game. You’ll have to wait just until tomorrow for the full details to be shared.
Well, for starters it is obviously a full on concept car that is far from production ready. On the other hand 🤢, there’s the styling especially that front end……..uh oh 🤮. Why can’t it look like a BMW? Why does the M8 Gran Coupe get to look so good, but the iNext looks like that? (BMW is still trying to keep sales of electric cars slow that’s why.)
Yes, BMW are building new dedicated factories & taking a hit on earning for r&d to keep bev sales low, good spotting!
They’re getting prepared, that’s nice. Meanwhile Audi, especially Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz will beat them to market. As an early i3 owner I’m surprised, and a bit disappointed that they fell behind after looking like a leader with the BMWi sub-brand.
I thought they were building new factories that allow ICE/BEV/hybrid/diesel production on flexible platforms and assembly lines, they have announced a planned 50% increase in volume while also pursuing #1 in China with electric. So while other manufacturers introduce their 1st BEVs years after BMW, I would hardly call them falling behind. Tesla have announced as many models as they produce, BEV sell a fraction of ICE, the models you cite have not even made it to market, it is still far too early to be making pronouncements.
Back to the drawing board!
Good Lord!
What in the name of design is that???!!!
creature
As the headline reads, BMW Vision iNext Concept.
Fred Flintstone would be proud of it.
In digital age, its an abomination.
LOL
Fred Flinstone is a concept.
It’s really just an enlarged but stretched bmw i3. I’m starting to consider stitching from BMW to Mercedes or Audi.
Yes, so much better to stitch to an enlarged but stretched A no Class or MQB Golf. Didn’t realize this was a carbon tub, thanks for the update.
What is really their problem with kidney grills? Why they want to ruin that?
good thing it’s just a concept
I really hope so.This is 90 years tradition and no reason at all to discard it.
I LIKE IT :D
I like it and I hope the “no buttons” interior remains this way on the production car. We have lots of unnecessary buttons in current BMWs.
“No buttons” is a stupid fantasy aesthetic desired by people that don’t think things out.
Bmw tried it already with the first release of i-drive in the early 2000s and no one liked it.
Cars need buttons and switches.
Not too many but not too few, and definitely not zero
100% agreed. BMW has it spot on the way they do it now. The infotainment is (one of) the most ergonomic in the industry. Touchscreen only is stupid and dangerous.
I think the entire industry is moving toward touchscreens only with voice controls becoming the primary UI. More and more brands are working on Alexa/Siri-style systems. BMW included. Engineers and designers would love to get rid of physical controls, as much as we want to keep them.
They tried also with notebooks but failed
I like how you are comparing early 2000 and 2018, you just don’t want change. And yes I don’t mean zero buttons but we need less of them that is true. We have lots of unnecessary ones that could be put into an infortainment system. Buttons just make the car flashy and most of them are never touched at all and I mean for years.
I once thought Juke was the ugliest car. No more. Jesus. It’s a crime to turn BMW into this thing. My god I wanna vomit.
To call it a POS would be an understatement.
And an insult to the POS
Ok. I understand BMW. They want to steal clients a from other auto companies…
On the plus side… well, I can’t think of anything right now, but there is hope that the production version will translate better.
Nico, how did the car look in the flesh? It’s a fact that modern car design doesn’t photograph well – more so with BMW and recently Audi too. You called it exciting a few times, that’s not a bad thing.
I didn’t see the car in the flesh, only Horatiu went to the event. What he saw is still under embargo, though, from what I understand.
I went to the event. I’ll tell you more shortly.
We look forward to it as this comes on the eve of Audi’s big announcement on the E Tron. The Beamer also looks a lot more fresh than E Tron.
Will you also be able to give us an indication of release date?
I guess this was Bmw’s answer to the question how to get more customers from not premium brands like Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, Volvo etc. Failure. Next try!
I called it ugly already but got dissed by zealots, only to be proven right by the full reveal.
Of a Concept. When did you see production?
Nasty. What’s up with the ironing board in the middle of the cabin??
LOL.
I actually quite like it–except for the giant kidney grille. The proportions and the stance are nice. The lines and the details are simple yet sophisticated. A lot of the X7 prototype is in here, in a good way. I was skeptical about the headlights from the teasers, but now, in full context, they look nice. The tail lights are a nice modern take on the classic L’s. The interior is nice and clean, borrowing from the Model 3 but fixing a lot of usability issues (although if iDrive is gone, they better do a great job with the touchscreen UI).
But that grille…oy! It’s a tough problem to solve, to be fair…but hopefully this is just a concept, and their designers have some other ideas they’re still cooking up…because this ain’t it.
No.
What an incredibly horrible and nasty looking, incomplete design that should not have been revealed as a concept car!! BMW is losing the plot with its design and is clearly running out of ideas. An absolute hideous design. The interior looks so rushed and incomplete its embarrassing. I wonder how this design was approved by BMW management to be revealed in this state. I am a die hard BMW fan, but even I cannot stand by this shocking and horrid design. Come on BMW Management!!
Almost all level headed BMW fans feel the same way. BMW is in dire need of some fresh creativity and that too a classy and purposeful one because they end up doing lot of stupidity in the name of creativity.
As always, these comments ignore that Concepts about garnering attention, so good work, BMW! Like the Z9, X4, i8, Z4 and countless others before it.
They’re garnering the wrong attention, that’s for sure.
Goodbye BMWblog, and good luck!
Try alternative thereapy
Because it worked so well for you. Maybe you should remove the spike now & get back to ESL.
Have you read my book yet?
BMW Concepts of late are some of the most horrible looking vehicles they’ve ever made. Every year they seem to get more and more ugly and I don’t mean just that rancid grill but the body, lines, interior, it’s just bad.
Someone at the department needs to be fired on the spot… this thing is Fiat Multipla ugly. Don’t know who approved this shit, but they need to be fired as well…