BMW iX3 – BMW’s ELECTRIC X3 – rather pointlessly teased ahead of Bastille Day official reveal

The BMW iX3 – BMW’s electric take of the X3 SUV – gets a final official tease ahead of an online reveal due on 14 July 2020.

What’s the best way forward for car makers as we move in to a new world of electric cars? Is it best to develop a bespoke platform just for EVs, with a new look no longer dictated by a big lump of iron under the bonnet. Or is it better to use a platform that works for ICE and EV so the ‘electric’ bit becomes merely an option alongside petrol and diesel?

Volkswagen is heading down the bespoke EV platform with its new ID range or electric cars – seemingly betting the farm it’s the right route. But BMW is going the opposite way.

Having failed to capitalise on the bespoke EV platforms under the i8 and i3, BMW is now forging an electric path that will see BMW buyers offered the electric powertrain as more or less an option alongside ICE powertrains, in models that will look much the same whatever powers them.

The first production evidence of this route is the new electric iX3, which we’ve already seen in an image from BMW as well as a leaked image, and which will be revealed online next Tuesday – Bastille Day (14 July) – ahead of which we get a slightly pointless tease of the new iX3 from BMW (above).

We already know iX3 production is about to start, and first customer cars will arrive before the end of 2020. What we don’t know yet is if an electric SUV from BMW which looks just like an ICE X3, but with a battery pack of 74kWh, a single electric motor powering the back, good for 278bhp and a range of 275 miles, will appeal to BMW buyers more than a bespoke electric SUV with its own look.

We’ll start to find out over the next year.