Check Out The BMW Vision Neue Klasse X's 2002-Like Kidney Grille

BMW’s latest concept brings the iconic kidney grille back to its earlier days

21 Mar 2024

It’s hard not to talk about BMW styling and spend a lot of time focusing on kidney grilles. After all, it’s one of the most iconic design touches of all time. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that we’ll be starting there when it comes to the Neue Klasse X.

Unlike the Neue Klasse saloon concept revealed in Munich last September, which integrated the front lights and a screen displaying a ‘virtual’ grille into two massive panels, the Neue Klasse X gets two tall and very narrow kidney grille right in the middle.

There’s a whiff of models like the 2002 about it, and BMW says the kidney grille here is "reimagined as a three-dimensional sculpture with vertically aligned backlit contours”. That very flat-looking bonnet also reminds us of models from around the same time, not that anything is specifically name-checked in the press release.

Head of BMW Group Design Adrian van Hooydonk sums it up like this: "The BMW Vision Neue Klasse X provides a look ahead to the X models of the Neue Klasse...The X models will always remain strong in character: monolithic, clean and with a very distinctive vertical interpretation of the BMW light signature.”

The electric platform used by the car, BMW says, gives a long wheelbase, short overhangs and a lot of interior space. As with the Neue Klasse saloon, no performance specs are quoted.

BMW does at least say that the new battery tech used here has 20 per cent higher energy density, and will run on an 800-volt charging system for 30 per cent faster charging. The range will also be up to 30 per cent better than previous BMW EVs, helped by "new tyre designs" and a 20 per cent reduction in drag.

Inside, there's a new steering wheel with multifunction buttons and a big central touchscreen. No, there's no rotary iDrive controller, sorry. There's also BMW Panoramic Vision, which projects various bits of information across the whole width of the windscreen. Production models will get a 3D head-up display.

Manufacturing of a slightly toned-down production version will begin in 2025 at BMW's Debrecen plant in Hungary.

The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.