BMW is pressing ahead with its €10 billion Neue Klasse programme, calling it the company’s most important initiative in decades as global competition in electric vehicles intensifies and regulatory challenges mount.
The effort goes beyond a single model or factory. While the next-generation iX3 will lead the rollout from a new facility in Debrecen, Hungary, Neue Klasse spans the entire lineup, including more than 40 new models due by 2027. The initiative encompasses new battery technology, electric motors and the so-called “Heart of Joy” digital platform, which uses four high-performance processors. It also includes updates to combustion engines such as the inline-six and V8 to comply with Euro 7 rules.
BMW board member Joachim Post said the programme’s success was non-negotiable. “Neue Klasse will not fail,” he told Australian magazine Drive. He added: “We [have been] building cars … [for] more than a hundred years, we are in this business, and we know how to make cars. We just believe in the strengths of our organisation, in the ideas and the power of our engineers.”
The company said it will not abandon combustion engines, aiming to appeal to customers in markets where charging infrastructure is underdeveloped. BMW argues that maintaining a dual-track strategy allows it to stay competitive as electrification progresses unevenly across regions.
Neue Klasse represents BMW’s largest-ever investment and marks what executives describe as the beginning of a new era. The scale of the programme, they say, is intended to ensure the brand remains resilient as it navigates rising pressure from low-cost Chinese EVs and shifting trade policies, including U.S. tariffs.
