The BMW Vision iNEXT.

At the BMW AG Annual General Meeting in May 2018, Harald Krueger, Chairman of the Board of Management at the BMW Group, described iNext as follows: "The iNEXT project will provide our building blocks for the future, from which the entire company and all of its brands are set to benefit."
iNEXT addresses the big question that is at the heart of the BMW Group's day-to-day work: "How will we be moving around in future?" iNEXT builds resolutely on the idea that first took shape in 2007 with "project i" and evolved into the launch of the BMW i3 in 2013. The BMW Group has already achieved a great deal on this front: it now has over ten years of experience with electric mobility under its belt in both small-scale and large-scale production, the BMW i models are being improved all the time, and their technology is being employed to gradually electrify models from the BMW and MINI ranges. The next step now is the complete in-car integration of the strategic innovation fields Autonomy + Connectivity + Electric + Services.

The Design, meanwhile, is a visual expression of the innovation fields and answers the question about what the driving pleasure experience is going to look like in future. The car we know today as BMW iNEXT will come onto the market in 2021.

The BMW Vision iNEXT.

"The BMW Vision iNEXT represents a new era of sheer driving pleasure," said Harald Krueger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. "It underlines the leading role Germany plays in the future of mobility."

Highly automated, emission-free and fully connected, it brings together the BMW Group's strategic innovation fields into a Vision Vehicle for the first time and provides revealing answers to the question: "What does a vehicle look like which no longer needs to be driven by a person but can be if desired?" At the heart of such deliberations are, more than ever, people "“ with all their emotions and desires.

The series-produced version of the BMW iNEXT will assume the role of a new technology flagship; production at Plant Dingolfing is slated to begin in 2021. It will take the BMW Group's strategic innovation fields ("D+ACES") onto the road for the first time as a single package.

A future-focused Vision Vehicle "“ the BMW Vision iNEXT "“ provides a tangible preview of how the BMW iNEXT might look. "Personal mobility is set to experience significant change," explains Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Development. "The possibilities opened up by autonomous driving and ever-expanding connectivity enable a whole new range of experiences and ways of shaping a journey. With this in mind, we have designed the all-electric BMW Vision iNEXT as a mobile environment that enhances quality of life, a new "Favourite Space" in which we can be ourselves and relax. Indeed, all of BMW's endeavours will continue to revolve around people "“ and their needs and desires when it comes to mobility "“ in the future," adds Fröhlich.

Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design sums up the creative approach: "BMW i exists to generate creative, pioneering ideas which transform the way we think about mobility. The BMW Vision iNEXT marks another next big step on that journey of transformation, showing how more intelligent vehicles can make our lives easier and more beautiful."

iNEXT "“ the next milestones.

Flexibility "“ the key to success. Ten years ago, the BMW Group launched "project i" as part of its NUMBER ONE strategy and promptly became a pioneer in electric mobility.

Today, vehicles with combustion engines and plug-in drive systems are built on the same architecture. In one of the successful developments to come out of 2009's project i, this ensures production is flexible and can be adapted to demand.

The BMW iNEXT vehicle project has assumed a comparable central role in the development of the tool kits and components required in the future. Looking ahead, the new vehicle architectures for all front-, rear- and all-wheel drive configurations, plus state-of-the-art factories, will allow the BMW Group to make quick decisions on which and how many models should be fully electric, equipped with a plug-in hybrid drive system or powered by a highly efficient combustion engine. By 2025 the BMW Group will be offering 25 models with electrified drive systems, 12 of which will be pure-electric.