BMW iX3 Electric SUV Confirmed For Launch By Year-end

BMW is now all set to launch the iX3 electric SUV at the end of this year. The German automaker has reported that the iX3 has successfully passed the approval tests and is ready for production. The EV will be manufactured in Shenyang plant in China, thanks to the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA). The homologation process, which entails the testing in 7,700 km for 340 hours has been finished and the final tweaks are now being made to the 200th pre-production prototype which has recently been manufactured. This is the first time that BMW has simultaneously implemented the homologation of a fully electric car in Europe and China. The homologation results have been shared with the authorities in the countries where the iX3 is expected to be launched.

The BMW iX3 is ready to be launched by late 2020.

BBA Plant Director Dadong, Robert Küssel, commented,

“We are right on schedule with our BMW iX3 pre-production vehicles and will launch standard production in late summer, using state-of-the-art technologies such as the custom installation of the new high-voltage battery and artificial intelligence for monitoring parts.”

While the X3 is going to the first BMW model to come with petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and full-electric motors, the iX3 will be the first purely-electric SUV of the company. The EV will be based on the same platform as the standard variant. The iX3 receives the fifth-gen BMW eDrive tech which includes power electronics, powerful high-voltage batteries, a drive unit with the electric motor and transmission, all of which are held in a central housing. This will help reduce the installation space and mass of the output-related drive technology as well as helping the new electric motor be more flexible to be installed in many derivatives of vehicles.

The BMW iX3 will be the first electric SUV from the German automaker.

The BMW iX3 will receive its power from a 74kWh battery package which will also serve as a power source for the some of the future BME electric cars. The battery will generate 286 HP against 400 Nm, which allows easy acceleration. The power is sent to the rear wheels. The travel range is likely to stand at 360 kilometres on a single charge. Although no official images of the electric SUV have been published, the leaked photos indicate that it will bear a strong resemblance to the standard X3 in terms of the appearance.

The BMW iX3 is going to bear a strong resemblance to the standard variant as regards the appearance.

There is a little possibility that the iX3 will come to India in the foreseeable future since the German car manufacturer will mainly focus on the European markets. The conventional BMW X3 is currently priced from INR 56.00 lakh to INR 60.9 lakh (ex-showroom) in India. The SUV receives its power from a 2.0-litre turbo oil burner with 190 PS or a 2.0-litre turbo gasoline burner with 250 PS.