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John Mahoney23 Apr 2018
NEWS

BEIJING MOTOR SHOW: BMW teases pure-electric 2020 iX3

Short vid previews battery-powered small SUV that will be on sale in 2020

BMW has released a new video tease of the iX3 concept it will unveil later this month at the Beijing motor show. The ground-breaking eSUV could come with up to 700km range.

Posting a short clip on all its social media channels, the German car-maker previews a glimpse of the pure-electric small SUV's front grille.

Featuring a new take on the firm's trademark twin kidney grille, some BMW fans have already criticised BMW for straying too far from tradition into design territory currently inhabited by Korean car maker, Kia.

Set to be on sale by 2020, the car that BMW will reveal at the Chinese car show is claimed to be a concept but, in fact, beneath the skin will be close to production.

Already confirmed earlier this March, by chairman Harald Kruger at the car maker's annual financial results meeting, the pure-electric SUV will go head-to-head with both the Jaguar I-PACE, forthcoming Audi e-Tron and the Tesla Model Y.

The iX3 will differ from its EV rivals however -- instead of being a standalone model, it's based on the recently-launched X3.

That means it shares the German car-maker's CLAR platform that's not only stiffer and safer than the previous version's, but helps shave, on average, 100kg from the kerb weight of the small SUV.

Handily, the versatile platform has also been designed to package the powerful lithium-ion batteries, inverters and electronic architecture needed for the pure-electric version.

Expected to be offered with one, two and, even, three motors, the pure-electric SUV will also offer customers the option of both two and all-wheel drive.

Variations of the same advanced pure-electric powertrains will also be used in future EV versions of CLAR, including the 3 Series, 5 Series and luxurious 7 Series.

BMW is planning on offering customers the choice of 60kWh (badged '30e'), 90kWh (40e) and a powerful 120kWh (50e) battery pack that provides a range of more than 700km.

Power, meanwhile, will begin at 213kW, while the most powerful three-motor versions (unlikely to be the iX3) will come with an incredible 600kW.

Harnessing what, internally BMW calls, fifth-generation electric technology, following the iX3's launch will be a dedicated BMW i model in 2021 that's likely to become the car maker's new technological flagship.

Rumoured to be based on the i Vision Dynamics concept car, the luxury sedan is expected to arrive with the firm's full Level 5 autonomous driving aids.

Built on the same CLAR platform as the iX3, the third i model is likely to use weight-saving carbon-fibre body to save weight to improve both performance and range.

In the past, both the i3 and i8 were built on bespoke carbon-fibre architectures - but that practice has been ruled-out to boost profit on battery-powered vehicles.

Before both the 2020 iX3 and the next-gen 2021 BMW i go on sale, the German car maker's British sub-brand MINI will launch a pure-electric version of its three-door hatch in 2019.

Claimed to offer a range of up to 400km, the small battery-powered MINI will share its powertrain with the BMW i3, narrowly missing out on the car maker's latest fifth-gen battery and powertrain tech.

As well as unveiling the BMW iX3 at the Beijing motor show the Munich-based firm will also pull the drapes off M2 Competition that will land in Australia a matter of months after its launch at next week's Chinese unveiling.

Set to share the BMW M4's 302kW/550Nm 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder, the pint-sized M model will hit 100km/h, from a standing start, in just 4.2 seconds.

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