BMW 3 series EV concept. Have they gone mad?

[TheDeuce]

I wouldn't normally bother to discuss a concept car, but this one seems to be more of a pre-production design exercise. They did the same sort of thing with the current 4 series, the 'concept' car was in fact pretty close to what we got.

BMW have also confirmed that the various technologies shown off in this video actually are intended for the upcoming generation of cars.. Which is bonkers given they're talking about full screen HUD, augmented reality and colour changing bodywork

Anyway, here's a decent summary - was anyone even asking for the things they have developed? Discuss..

[Otispunkmeyer]

Well. It certainly doesn't look as awful as their current designs. I am not sure its "BMW" but I don't hate it. We don't need colour changing paint, we'll be writing off cars for shopping trolley dings!

[hiccy18]

I really like it. They can keep the AR, the eInk system looks amazing but it'll cost a fortune; the personal avatar stuff... well, I can live without it, but for a family car having it detect who is coming and adjusting seats, hvac, entertainment etc seems a sensible step forward. I'd want a door handle though.

Customisable HUD is a good idea, being able to select what info is displayed and its location would be excellent as you could have different setups for different journey types. I'm going to row back on my AR dismissal slightly and say having satnag painting the route as a line on the road would be useful.

I admire BMW for really thinking about how use technology to improve the user interface. I just hope steering feel is included!

Edited by hiccy18 on Monday 9th January 14:54

[SWoll]

Very Lancia/Alfa from a styling perspective, I don't see it getting anywhere near production looking like that personally but who knows?.

With EV drivetrains struggling to differentiate themselves tech is the battleground now. I struggle to believe that we are on the verge of colour changing cars though as can you imagine the repair costs for a minor prang? And I also doubt a full screen HUD would pass safety rules in most countries as far too distracting?

[TheDeuce]

SWoll said:

Very Lancia/Alfa from a styling perspective, I don't see it getting anywhere near production looking like that personally but who knows?.

With EV drivetrains struggling to differentiate themselves tech is the battleground now. I struggle to believe that we are on the verge of colour changing cars though as can you imagine the repair costs for a minor prang? And I also doubt a full screen HUD would pass safety rules in most countries as far too distracting?

When I was in Frankfurt I saw the (then) upcoming i4 concept. It'll never look like that I said confidently to my business partner "Look at the fking grill"...

I quite like the idea of the windscreen HUD becoming the infotainment screen... But that surely means the display is only visible from the drivers seating position - what if the passenger needs to see it?

Although in general it's good to see BMW really thinking outside the box.

[5s Alive]

Dedra in the water but having said that I quite like the look of it.

[NMNeil]

They are calling it the DEE (Digital Emotional Experience) with more useless expensive to fix gadgets than you can shake a stick at :
https://www.themanual.com/auto/bmw-dee-ev-concept-...

[SWoll]

TheDeuce said:

When I was in Frankfurt I saw the (then) upcoming i4 concept. It'll never look like that I said confidently to my business partner "Look at the fking grill"...

I quite like the idea of the windscreen HUD becoming the infotainment screen... But that surely means the display is only visible from the drivers seating position - what if the passenger needs to see it?

Although in general it's good to see BMW really thinking outside the box.

If you look thoguh the i4 concept did at least follow certain BMW design cues, and the huge grill fashion has affected almost all manufacturers.

Seem to be reaching into their back catalogue and attempting to use the 2002 with this, but as above looks more Italian than anything else to my eyes, especially from straight on and rear 3/4.

I'm seeing this



mashed up with this

Edited by SWoll on Monday 9th January 16:27

[TheDeuce]

SWoll said:

TheDeuce said:

When I was in Frankfurt I saw the (then) upcoming i4 concept. It'll never look like that I said confidently to my business partner "Look at the fking grill"...

I quite like the idea of the windscreen HUD becoming the infotainment screen... But that surely means the display is only visible from the drivers seating position - what if the passenger needs to see it?

Although in general it's good to see BMW really thinking outside the box.

If you look thoguh the i4 concept did at least follow certain BMW design cues, and the huge grill fashion has affected almost all manufacturers.

Seem to be reaching into their back catalogue and attempting to use the 2002 with this, but as above looks more Italian than anything else to my eyes, especially from straight on and rear 3/4.

I still see most current and past BMW design cues in place... Although the end result somehow does not look like a BMW

I also think it reminds me a tiny bit of a Dodge Charger, I'm not entirely sure why, but it does.

[Kawasicki]

Looks great

The wheels are huge, though


Reminds me a bit of this

[TheDeuce]

Kawasicki said:

Looks great

The wheels are huge, though


Reminds me a bit of this

I can see that.

RE The wheels, they all do it with concept cars. Put wheels on that exactly fill the entire arch leaving no space whatsoever for suspension travel.

Sometimes boy racers try and replicate the look in real life and generally end up with their tyres endlessly rubbing the rear arch until both are ruined

[DMZ]

What I took from this is an attempt to give EVs a unique tech centric value prop. Ok Tesla figured this out 10-15 years ago but for legacy manufactures it’s a big thing. It’s going to be about screens on the inside and on the outside it’s about finding ways to make invariably bland aero designs look cool and find new things to upsell when additional sporty looking plastic won’t work. Hence why EVs tend to have light strips in different colour and I guess the changeable colour is another way to do it without affecting aero.

In short, they are trying to find new ways of making EVs engaging. Perhaps for a new generation of buyers.

Even if I’m generally of the view that less tech is better in cars, it does give you something to mess around with as the car is driving itself. I’d probably be more interested in having widescreen Sky Sports piped into the car than some AR b0llocks, though.