BMW's first electric SUV almost ready
Production of ground-breaking BMW iX3 to start within months; Australian release confirmed for 2021BMW’s answer to the Tesla Model X, Jaguar I-PACE, Mercedes-Benz EQC and the upcoming Audi e-tron, the BMW iX3, has been signed off and will enter production within two months.
The Bavarian car-maker yesterday said first customer deliveries of the mid-size electric SUV will take place in China – the only country in which the BMW iX3 will be built – by the end of this year.
Australian sales will follow in the second half of next year, when the BMW iX3 will join the upcoming MINI Electric as the third EV available here from the BMW Group.
The first was the BMW i3, but the iX3 will be the first pure-electric vehicle based on a mainstream BMW model, and the first EV from the ‘core’ BMW brand (not its i sub-brand).
BMW Australia already sells a number of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models, including the 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, X5 and the soon-to-be-discontinued i8 sports coupe.
While the BMW i3 and MINI EVs share their electric powertrain, the iX3 will be powered by BMW’s fifth-generation electric drive system (dubbed ‘eDrive’), as will the forthcoming BMW iNEXT and 4 Series Gran Coupe-based i4 sedan. BMW has committed to launching 12 EVs by 2025.
The BMW iX3 promises a WLTP-certified range of around 440km and, if the concept version revealed at the 2018 Beijing motor show is any guide, an electric motor producing more than 200kW, fed by a more powerful 70kWh battery pack.
BMW says homologation testing of the iX3 has been completed and the results submitted to key automotive markets, after more than 340 hours and 7700km of testing in four weeks.
“This is the first time we have completed the entire homologation process for a fully electric model in China and Europe at the same time,” said BMW iX3 development chief Arno Keller.
Production of the BMW iX3 for global consumption will commence at the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) joint-venture plant in the late Northern Hemisphere summer, ahead of first Chinese deliveries later this year and first Australian deliveries in 2021.
BMW says the BBA Plant Dadong in Shenyang, which will manufacture the iX3 alongside mainstream X3 models, has now produced at least 200 pre-production iX3 vehicles for testing since mid-2019.
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