BMW Vision Neue Lasse X: Building a brighter future by looking to the past

 

BMW Vision Neue Lasse X: Building a brighter future by looking to the past

Placing the new Vision Neue Lasse X next to one of the German automaker's existing SUVs, such as the X3, X5, or X7, is the greatest way to show off how much BMW style and design will evolve over the next years. With vents, apertures, and curves pushed to their limits up front, stretched like taffy in the middle, and brazenly dynamic in the back, one will be expressively styled to the brink of polarization. The other is the Neue Lasse X, which we were able to view and experience firsthand lately.

 

We could spend a lot of virtual space discussing the style and design of the Vision Neue Lasse X, but one thing is evident right away: the new and old are executed so differently that it's difficult to believe they came from the same company.

 

Unbeknownst to modern BMW enthusiasts, however, is that the Neue Lasse truly signifies a return to the German brand's heritage, both in the sedan form we've already seen and in this more recent SUV design. It's important to understand that this isn't BMW's first Neue Lasse, or "New Class," without getting too bogged down in the past. That honor goes to the 1962 BMW 1500, a vehicle that completely changed the midsize lineup for the brand and was an enormous success. The original Neue Lasse (designed by Wilhelm Hofmeister, whose signature C pillar "kink" is immortalized in BMW design) was a full-on upgrade in terms of engineering, design, performance, and style.



The overall Vision Neue Lasse X tale truly centers on the integration of its design, both inside and out, and how it modernizes BMW's ideas about vehicles going forward, much like the original it so obviously evokes. It's a well-rounded package that prioritizes efficiency, sustainability, technology, and customizability in seemingly equal measure—or, to use BMW lingo, a vision into a harmonious appearance and feel.

The overall Vision Neue Lasse X tale truly centers on the integration of its design, both inside and out, and how it modernizes BMW's ideas about vehicles going forward, much like the original it so obviously evokes. It's a well-rounded package that prioritizes efficiency, sustainability, technology, and customizability in seemingly equal measure—or, to use BMW lingo, a vision into a harmonious appearance and feel.



The car's sides are equally conservative, but to give the design some character, the bottoms of the doors and the wheel arches have a lot of sculpting. The Neue Lasse X is kept contemporary and light by an almost continuous amount of glass that works in tandem with the fully glass roof, despite the fenders seeming tall and fitting for a crossover design. The car's slim, black belt-line trim conceals little pulls that are built into the door handles.

 

Perhaps the vehicle's most distinctive angle is from the back. The roof terminates in hoods that cover the back glass and resemble almost buttresses. The classic but muted BMW roundel logo is surrounded by large, horizontal taillights with red slash-shaped components. Although there appears to be good ground clearance and minimal overhangs, the most obvious calls to any kind of off-road usefulness are the black trim and a type of skid plate at the bottom edge.

 

If the Vision Neue Lasse X's appearance is an unexpected demonstration of restraint, the inside suggests that the two eras will harmoniously mix to create a single, technologically advanced experience. Within the automobile, there are no stretches of black plastic or brightwork that would take away from the warm, cozy feel of the finely textured materials in calming red, gray, and white tones. BMW says that some of the materials used to construct a large portion of the inside are plant- or recycled-based.

The automobile has a central screen that is positioned and sized similarly to most modern cars on the road, but its design is unique. It has a distinctive trapezoid form and is angled toward the driver. The console does not have a scroll wheel. The Hyperon steering wheel, which BMW bolds the “person” between the Hay- and -X, is touch sensitive in addition to having multifunction buttons for completing tasks on several displays and the most recent iteration of BMW's Intelligent Personal Assistant, which is voice controlled.


BMW's Panoramic Vision technology, which projects information across the whole width of the lower few inches of the windshield, is far more fascinating than the central screen. Strong holographic effects are in use, giving the display depth and dimension and giving it a futuristic but practical sense. The manufacturing kit will also include a more conventional head-up display.

Another aspect of the Neue Lasse concept is customization. Customers are accustomed to selecting features like wheels and paint jobs, and more lately, automakers (like BMW with the new i5) have added LED interior illumination in a variety of tints to their lineup. BMW has even more ambitious plans: user-defined fake motor noises piped into the interior, a completely configurable layout for its next-generation infotainment software, and LCD screen backdrops that may be chosen.

 

Driving dynamics also benefits from economy optimization. BMW claims to have invested a significant amount of money and human resources into creating "super-brain" computers, which can process information up to 10 times faster than current computers. By making use of the extra computer capability, BMW is able to cut the total number of "brains" on board in half while also increasing processing speed. This leads to improved autonomous driving, faster safety technology reflexes, and increased personalization for aspects like steering and suspension.

 

BMW's Neue Lasse architecture is clearly very significant. Furthermore, much as the original Neue Kloss enabled the automaker to achieve unparalleled global success in the early 1960s, BMW has bet its future on this new model. BMW has repeatedly assured us that the first vehicle based on Neue Lasse architecture will arrive in Debrecen, Hungary in 2025 and will incorporate all of these new strategies, including warm and comfortable interiors, vehicle customization, and a greater emphasis on efficiency and sustainability. How much of the design we see in these concept drawings actually finds its way into production is unknown.