BMW kicked off this week’s Beijing Motor Show with two announcements today. The company unveiled a concept version of the forthcoming iX3 SUV, which is arguably going to be the company’s first serious effort at a mass-produced fully electric car meant for the global market. The other announcement is that the iX3 will be made in China.
The iX3, due out in 2020, is not all that differently styled from the X3 compact SUV that it’s based on (though BMW has toyed with its famous kidney grille a bit). The company says the iX3 packs 270 horsepower and is estimating around 250 miles of range, which means it would last around 10 miles longer on a single charge than the dual-motor Jaguar I-Pace or a base level Tesla Model X. It will do all that with 70kWh battery pack, which is smaller than the one on the I-Pace (90kWh) or the Model X (75kWh). The iX3 will also be compatible with 150kW fast charging.
These are all vast improvements to the car that the iX3 is ostensibly taking the baton from: the BMW i3. That was the company’s actual first fully electric vehicle, something that’s obvious in hindsight when you look at the specs. The i3 maxed out at 113 miles of range from a 33kWh battery after a 2017 update, and it offered a more modest 170 horsepower. It also had a kooky, futuristic, and polarizing design.
Despite all that, the i3 was able to carve out a niche in the nascent EV market and, all told, BMW has sold about 100,000 of them globally since it launched. The iX3 will face far more direct competition than the i3 ever did, but it’s also a far more palatable car. And while BMW doesn’t seem to be showing off the interior yet, the iX3 looks pretty near production for a “concept.”
That the production of the iX3 will take place in China is a sign of the increasing influence the country wields over the automotive industry — especially with respect to EVs. It’s the largest car market in the world, and it’s certainly the biggest for all-electric cars at the moment. With the government aggressively pushing to clean up the country’s greenhouse gas emissions while also loosening manufacturing restrictions on foreign automakers, it’s an attractive proposition to set up shop in China, especially if you’re making EVs.
Beyond tantalizing sales figures, building cars in China is likely to save BMW money. (Ford says it’s saving $1 billion by moving production of the Focus there.) It also puts the company closer to a growing supply chain for EVs. The decision to make the iX3 there shows that BMW likely believes benefits like these outweigh any potential costs of exporting the car into other markets. It’s also a sign that the company thinks consumers in markets like Europe and the US are ready to buy cars made in China — something that hasn’t historically been true.
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