The BMW Group is making a strong showing at Auto Shanghai 2023 with a total of three world premieres from its BMW brand. Taking centre stage are the latest product and technological innovations, with the focus placed firmly on electrification and digitalisation.
This is the first time that only electrified new models from the brand are being exhibited at a show. The star attractions are the all-electric BMW i7 M70 xDrive (electric power consumption combined: 23.8 – 20.8 kWh/ 100 km in the WLTP cycle) as the new range-topping model of the BMW 7 Series, the BMW XM Label Red (fuel consumption combined: 1.7 – 1.6 litres/100 km [166.2 – 176.6 mpg imp]; electric power consumption combined: 34.5 – 33.0 kWh/100 km; CO2 emissions combined: 39 – 35 g/km in the WLTP cycle) with M HYBRID drive system, and a version of the purely electrically powered BMW iX1 (electric power consumption combined: 18.1 – 16.8 kWh/100 km in the WLTP cycle) that has been developed exclusively for Chinese customers. Also on display at Auto Shanghai 2023 are the BMW i Vision Dee and the MINI Concept Aceman, which are both receiving their Asian premieres.
The premium manufacturer is also making it very clear that the Chinese car market holds great importance for BMW by unveiling three new models from the brand in public for the first time at Auto Shanghai. “BMW stands for innovation, for cutting-edge products and a broad technology approach,” says Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “This enables us to address the individual wishes of our customers, especially here in China.”
From 18–27 April, 2023, BMW will be offering visitors to the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai a wide-ranging show experience. In the exhibition area inside Hall 7.1, the entire portfolio of electrified models from the BMW brand are arranged around the show stand’s hub, which is designed in the style of a charging station. There is also an electrifying lighting installation as well as numerous interactive elements to draw visitors’ attention to the exhilarating product and brand experience on offer.
An exclusive event is taking place on the eve of the show’s opening in Shanghai, where the BMW Group will already be presenting its latest new models. It will also be offering a foretaste of the ‘Neue Klasse’ model generation, whose name is a reference to the company’s groundbreaking models from the 1960s. The BMW Group is currently developing a completely new technological platform for electric vehicles for the Neue Klasse, which is going to redefine standards for digitalisation, circular economy and design. “The Neue Klasse will embody all three pillars of this transformation,” remarks Oliver Zipse. “It will therefore further boost the fast-growing demand for our all-electric vehicles.” At least six models are meant to go into production during the first 24 months following the Neue Klasse launch.
The models celebrating their world premiere in Shanghai are being presented under the guiding theme of “RE:IMAGINE Tomorrow – Make Electric Emotional”. “Our BEV ramp-up is precisely geared to increasing customer demand,” says Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Customer, Brands and Sales. “Because the customer is the focus of all we do: we want to provide the best premium customer experience in our industry.”
The all-electric BMW i7 M70 xDrive will in future be delivering a unique performance experience in the luxury segment when it takes its place at the top of the BMW 7 Series range. Its two electric motors generate a combined system output of up to 485 kW/660 hp and maximum torque of 1,100 Nm (811 lb-ft). “The BMW i7 M70 xDrive is the most powerful and fastest all-electric vehicle of our portfolio,” comments Pieter Nota.
The BMW XM Label Red is also making its global debut. The new top-of-the-range version of the first ever electrified high-performance model from BMW M GmbH is powered by an M HYBRID drive system, whose combination of a V8 petrol engine and an electric motor delivers maximum output of 550 kW/748 hp and peak torque of 1,000 Nm (737 lb-ft).
The version of the BMW iX1 that has been specially developed for the Chinese car market and is also being unveiled for the first time at the Auto Shanghai show provides fresh impetus for all-electric premium mobility in the compact segment. Made in China for China, the Sports Activity Vehicle is fitted with one electric motor at the front axle and another at the rear producing a combined powerful output. The new BMW iX1 also includes some particularly sophisticated touches for the Chinese market in terms of digitalisation. It is one of the brand’s first models to include the control/operation system BMW iDrive with QuickSelect based on BMW Operating System 9.
Visitors to the Auto Shanghai 2023 show will also have the opportunity to meet the BMW i Vision Dee, with “Dee” standing for Digital Emotional Experience. The Vision Vehicle facilitates a remarkably intense bond between human and car using digital features that extend far beyond the functionality of voice control and driver assistance systems as we know them today.
The user experience in the BMW i Vision Dee is largely defined by a projection of driving-related data and other information extending across the entire width of the windscreen. This pioneering form of visualisation also allows the real and virtual worlds to be merged using the mixed reality slider control in the Vision Vehicle’s cockpit. It will serve as the basis for developing an advanced version of the BMW Head-Up Display introduced by BMW 20 years ago in a world first for the automotive industry. The new system is already set to go into production from 2025 in the first Neue Klasse models under the name of BMW Panoramic Vision. “Making Vision Cars is exciting, but our true goal is to bring our vision to life,” says Frank Weber, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Development. “By inventing leading-edge technologies and creating unique, fascinating products like the all-new BMW Panoramic Vision. It will be a fundamental new element of our future human-machine interaction system.”
The BMW i Vision Dee is also sure to impress visitors to the show with the upgraded colour change technology of its outer skin. An ePaper film from project partner E Ink that is applied to the body and subdivided into 240 segments allows up to 32 different colours and a virtually endless variety of patterns to be created and changed again in just a few seconds.
The MINI brand’s line-up for Auto Shanghai 2023 includes a first glimpse of a new vehicle concept. Featuring an all-electric drive system and a brand new design, the MINI Concept Aceman is being presented as a crossover model within the new MINI family. It is the epitome of Charismatic Simplicity – the MINI design language of the future that is shaped by the brand’s past and sends out trailblazing signals by focusing on the essentials. The Concept Vehicle fuses modern styling with pioneering technologies and demonstrates what digitality could look like in a future MINI.
The BMW Group’s sustained success in China is closely linked to the continuing ramp-up of electric mobility. With eleven purely electrically powered models on show at Auto Shanghai 2023, the BMW Group is exhibiting its most varied range of electric vehicles yet for the Chinese market, where the company has been active since 1994. In that time, the BMW Group has already delivered more than seven million vehicles to customers in China. The company now has a network of over 630 dealerships extending throughout the country, virtually all of which are also qualified to sell and service electrified vehicles.
In 2023, China is marking 70 years since the foundation of its national car industry. At the same time, the BMW Group in China also has an important anniversary coming up, as it is 20 years since vehicles from the BMW brand started to be produced at the Dadong plant of the BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA) joint venture. Since that time, more than five million BMWs have rolled off the production line at the site in Shenyang. Following the most recent expansion of production capacity there, the facility will be capable of building around 830,000 cars a year in future.
Local capabilities in the field of vehicle and innovative technological development are also being consistently consolidated. The Chinese research and development network is the largest outside Germany. The number of people employed in these areas has tripled in the past three years. There are now more than 3,200 designers, engineers and electric mobility and software specialists in China working in close collaboration with local technology firms and other partners to develop cutting-edge innovations for the future of individual mobility.
