BMW wants to stay relevant, and an electric 1 Series may do the trick. The 1 Series will return as an affordable EV to attract young buyers.
When will BMW launch the 1 Series EV?
It’s no secret by now that traditional luxury brands, including BMW, have struggled to keep up with lower-cost Chinese EV brands.
BYD is now the best-selling EV brand in the UK and plans to launch several new vehicles in Europe this year, including under its luxury sub-brand Denza.
BMW has an idea to fight back. The German luxury brand is planning to launch the next-generation 1 Series in 2028, which it’s betting will help level the playing field.
BMW’s compact-car design boss, Oliver Heilmer, confirmed that the new 1 Series will arrive in 2028 with both electric and hybrid powertrains. As reported by Autocar, Heilmer said the fourth-gen 1 Series will be revamped using BMW’s Neue Klasse EV platform, but will retain its hatchback design.
The Neue Klasse form language doesn’t set boundaries,” Heilmer explained, adding “it’s more a mindset rather than a design cookbook.”
Unlike the iX3, which received a complete Neue Klasse makeover, the 1 Series EV will remain closer in style to the gas-powered model. “Do you just replicate what you have in the IX3 and replicate them to other cars? The answer is no. Let’s make them more emotional and create different characters,” Heilmer said.
Keeping the brand young
BMW believes the 1 Series still plays a key role in its lineup and could help the brand attract younger buyers with an EV variant.
“If you want to keep the brand young, if you want to develop customers within your portfolio, the 1 Series is very important,” Bernd Körber, BMW’s product and brand management boss, told Autocar.
Like the new iX3 and i7, the interior will receive an overhaul using BMW’s Neue Klasse cabin design. The setup features BMW’s new Panoramic iDrive, a 43.3″ long display that stretches the length of the dash, and a 17.7″ central touchscreen.
The all-electric 1 Series EV will likely share the iX3’s 800-volt Neue Klasse EV platform using its sixth-generation (Gen6) eDrive.
However, to cut costs and enable prices closer to current gas models £30,000 ($40,300) price, it will be offered with a single rear-mounted electric motor with up to 322 hp.
It will also use a smaller battery pack than the 108 kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery from the new i3 that delivers a WLTP driving range of up to 599 miles (900 km). As such, it won’t offer quite as much range, as it’s geared toward an entry-level vehicle at a lower cost.
Like all of BMW’s new vehicles, regardless of powertrain, it will be equipped with its new “digital nervous system” that delivers 20 times the computing power of its current setup.
The AI-powered setup uses four high-performance computers, or “superbrains,” that control everything from the driving dynamics to the infotainment and ADAS features.
BMW will launch the 1 Series EV in 2028 to match the upcoming Audi A2 E-tron and Mercedes A-Class entry-level models.
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