With the iX1, BMW's EV lineup is now more complete than ever
In summer especially, the winding passes around the hills of Lower Bavaria may silently question you if you haven't brought a lightweight roadster along, and let its engine rip.
But I suspect the residents of the tranquil small towns punctuating our routes are wont to disagree. In fact, the three cars we have are perhaps exactly the sort of vehicles they'd wish for passers-through to be driving: Silent, and non-pollutive.
Conventional logic would immediately and easily put the i7 up as the star of our convoy. A luxe-barge almost suspended magically atop four wheels, this is the car you point both Singaporean SME-owners and Members of the European Parliament alike to.
But for this particular sojourn, it is the pair of nearly-identical, tinier high-riding twins that have captured our attention more. Because with this car - the first-ever iX1, BMW's fully electric lineup today gains a compact member for the first time.
It's probably the urbanite in me showing: The thought of charging infrastructure mostly brings to mind the densest and most built-up of areas in Singapore - shopping malls and office buildings. In actuality, however, where the land is unlimited is precisely where wallbox chargers can be given due space to sprout up.
Rinchnach, a rural municipality (here, we spot wild deer on a post-dinner walk) is around 200km from central Munich - not the sort of place a Singaporean mind might immediately think to take an electric vehicle out for a road trip to. As we pull into the parking area of our four-storey hotel, a couple of AC chargers also come into view, dutifully waiting to juice up the iX1s.
Mind focused on the snaking two-way roads on our drive here, it is only now, when gazing upon the three cars, that it sinks in: BMW's ability to pre-empt what different types of consumers want has only become stronger with its electric offensive.
The sedan is the shape most love affairs with BMW started out with, and in the three-boxed corner, the i7 should need no introduction despite it technically being the first ever of its kind.
At its very core, this is still the very embodiment of how luxury and technology can be interwoven; stuffed to the final square inch with the firm's latest innovations, and padded thoroughly with softness. Today's flagship is simply presented on a 21st-century platter now, replete with massive twin kidney grilles and Swarovski crystal-studded DRLs.
The i7 is the sort of car you'd fight with trip mates to get into the backseat of; as an unambiguous display of wealth and status, also the sort of car you want to be seen piloting. Instead of gold, the driver's seat can be a soft Merino-leather throne in which you truly feel like a king.
Boasting 536bhp and 750Nm of instant torque in the xDrive60 variant, the dual-motor limo feels like a reservoir of endless power too. Yet at close to 200km/h, you'd still describe its manner of zipping down the first lane of the Autobahn as "floating", rather than "barrelling" or "blasting" down.
Nonetheless, luxury that has no holds barred is a royal sword that cuts both ways. There's no denying the i7 of its majesty - but with inaccessibility residing on the flipside of exclusivity, this is where the iX1 comes in crucially.
No - there is no 31-inch Theatre Screen in the rear quarters here; the dual-motor set-up in the sole xDrive30 powertrain variant also gives the SUV "only" 304bhp and 494Nm of torque when stacked against the i7. But that's because the iX1 expressly isn't designed to be the alpha car.
Instead, by showing you how much BMW is already willing to stuff into what is designated as its entry point, it speaks to how the firm is raising the bar for all its models. A highlight, naturally, is the Curved Display, housing massive screens each for the instrument cluster and infotainment screen, and its clean, modern cabin.
But perhaps the most praiseworthy quality of the iX1 still is how hushed and comfortable it feels on the road - building on the surprising refinement already on the combustion-engined X1 - while still holding on to the subtle athleticism we expect from the firm (at least by a crossover's standards).
Caution must still be exercised with putting the term 'mass market' in the same sentence as 'BMW'. But as mentioned in our first drive of the car, this is the first compact BEV to be released by the firm since the i3.
While pricing will remain a question mark before the car is officially launched locally, it's also not unreasonable to expect that its downsized proportions and more conventional suite of features will likewise result in - you guessed it - a downsized price tag, at least against the i7.
Beyond the surface of curated familiarity
Press releases about The Boring Stuff - production facilities, technical and manufacturing partnerships, mechanical underpinnings - tend to fly under the radar of the average driver. But it would be remiss not to briefly trace how the iX1 and i7 have both come to exist in our world today.
The first pillar: Production capacity. Don't let the rapid pace at which BMW-badged BEVs have been flying onto our roads deceive; manufacturing components for an electric car is an entirely different ballgame to manufacturing cars with combustion engines. Pivoting towards renewable energy and sustainable materials is part of the equation too.
Starting in 2019 - three years before the third-generation X1 was unveiled - the model's longtime home, Plant Regensburg, had already been slated for huge investments to produce complete high-voltage batteries from 2022. It's the reason why the iX1 and X1 are able to share the same home today. (Plant Dingolfing, long equipped for EVs, assembles the 7 Series and i7.)
While this is set to change in the future, a key quality of BMW's BEVs today is also how familiar they feel. That, in turn, is targeted at making the switch over from its ICE models more seamless.
Hands on the lightly-weighted steering wheel of the iX1 around the smaller roads, the lack of surprise one feels on the inside when coming from the X1 would be extremely stark if not for the fact that we've already experienced this mirrored effect before in other BMW i cars.
For instance, all the mid-sized muscle and practicality of the X3 is also enjoyed on the iX3; those who have taken a liking to the 4 Series Gran Coupe's beautiful swooping silhouette also have the i4 to turn to. Inside all of them - the iX1 and i7 included - space is never compromised too.
The master key that has unlocked all this is platform versatility.
If you thought BMW had only worked its electric magic into the rear-wheel drive centred Cluster Architecture (CLAR) platform (underpinning all its ICE/EV pairings up till the iX1), remember that the X1 and iX1 ride on the UKL2 platform for front-wheel driven cars. Only a pedantic, 'Type A' sort of company would pull off this sort of pre-planning - but isn't that what we want from a luxury carmaker?
Beyond look and feel, other essential qualities are working hand-in-hand with the sense of familiarity: Driving performance and everyday usability.
BMW's fifth-generation eDrive technology, which debuted in the iX3, is also what you'll find under the i7 and iX1.
It's what gives each car the wealth of power we've almost come to demand from EVs, while also maintaining a level of energy efficiency that ensures these are daily-drive - or indeed, cross-Bavaria road-trip friendly.
Kilometre-shredding is fun, but just as importantly on a nearly 400km-long round trip, the i7, with its 101.7kWh battery, needed no recharging. While the iX1 makes do with less capacity (and needed a bit more attention), charging stations incorporated overnight and over lunch mean our timetable and scenic detours are not given a backseat. Before 5:00pm, we are back in Garching - just as planned.
Of course, the iX1 isn't where one should expect the story to end. Bavaria's blue-badged lightning is stretching its branches even further - and naturally impacting the more traditional and household names, as the recent unveiling of the first ever i5 has shown.
But where the i7 may perhaps be described as 'diamond-studded, delectable excess', the iX1 doles out delight in more measured, albeit more-than satisfying quantities.
Newer entrants still will continue to fill in the remaining parts of BMW's 'i' puzzle. Still, with this unassuming, compact all electric SUV nicely bookending the i7 on the other end of the range now, the frame is arguably in place - and the picture is more complete than it's ever been.
Here are a couple of other stories that may interest you!
BMW flagships: The circularity of luxury, today and beyond
In summer especially, the winding passes around the hills of Lower Bavaria may silently question you if you haven't brought a lightweight roadster along, and let its engine rip.
But I suspect the residents of the tranquil small towns punctuating our routes are wont to disagree. In fact, the three cars we have are perhaps exactly the sort of vehicles they'd wish for passers-through to be driving: Silent, and non-pollutive.
Conventional logic would immediately and easily put the i7 up as the star of our convoy. A luxe-barge almost suspended magically atop four wheels, this is the car you point both Singaporean SME-owners and Members of the European Parliament alike to.
But for this particular sojourn, it is the pair of nearly-identical, tinier high-riding twins that have captured our attention more. Because with this car - the first-ever iX1, BMW's fully electric lineup today gains a compact member for the first time.
It's probably the urbanite in me showing: The thought of charging infrastructure mostly brings to mind the densest and most built-up of areas in Singapore - shopping malls and office buildings. In actuality, however, where the land is unlimited is precisely where wallbox chargers can be given due space to sprout up.
Rinchnach, a rural municipality (here, we spot wild deer on a post-dinner walk) is around 200km from central Munich - not the sort of place a Singaporean mind might immediately think to take an electric vehicle out for a road trip to. As we pull into the parking area of our four-storey hotel, a couple of AC chargers also come into view, dutifully waiting to juice up the iX1s.
Mind focused on the snaking two-way roads on our drive here, it is only now, when gazing upon the three cars, that it sinks in: BMW's ability to pre-empt what different types of consumers want has only become stronger with its electric offensive.
The sedan is the shape most love affairs with BMW started out with, and in the three-boxed corner, the i7 should need no introduction despite it technically being the first ever of its kind.
At its very core, this is still the very embodiment of how luxury and technology can be interwoven; stuffed to the final square inch with the firm's latest innovations, and padded thoroughly with softness. Today's flagship is simply presented on a 21st-century platter now, replete with massive twin kidney grilles and Swarovski crystal-studded DRLs.
The i7 is the sort of car you'd fight with trip mates to get into the backseat of; as an unambiguous display of wealth and status, also the sort of car you want to be seen piloting. Instead of gold, the driver's seat can be a soft Merino-leather throne in which you truly feel like a king.
Boasting 536bhp and 750Nm of instant torque in the xDrive60 variant, the dual-motor limo feels like a reservoir of endless power too. Yet at close to 200km/h, you'd still describe its manner of zipping down the first lane of the Autobahn as "floating", rather than "barrelling" or "blasting" down.
Nonetheless, luxury that has no holds barred is a royal sword that cuts both ways. There's no denying the i7 of its majesty - but with inaccessibility residing on the flipside of exclusivity, this is where the iX1 comes in crucially.
No - there is no 31-inch Theatre Screen in the rear quarters here; the dual-motor set-up in the sole xDrive30 powertrain variant also gives the SUV "only" 304bhp and 494Nm of torque when stacked against the i7. But that's because the iX1 expressly isn't designed to be the alpha car.
Instead, by showing you how much BMW is already willing to stuff into what is designated as its entry point, it speaks to how the firm is raising the bar for all its models. A highlight, naturally, is the Curved Display, housing massive screens each for the instrument cluster and infotainment screen, and its clean, modern cabin.
But perhaps the most praiseworthy quality of the iX1 still is how hushed and comfortable it feels on the road - building on the surprising refinement already on the combustion-engined X1 - while still holding on to the subtle athleticism we expect from the firm (at least by a crossover's standards).
Caution must still be exercised with putting the term 'mass market' in the same sentence as 'BMW'. But as mentioned in our first drive of the car, this is the first compact BEV to be released by the firm since the i3.
While pricing will remain a question mark before the car is officially launched locally, it's also not unreasonable to expect that its downsized proportions and more conventional suite of features will likewise result in - you guessed it - a downsized price tag, at least against the i7.
Beyond the surface of curated familiarity
Press releases about The Boring Stuff - production facilities, technical and manufacturing partnerships, mechanical underpinnings - tend to fly under the radar of the average driver. But it would be remiss not to briefly trace how the iX1 and i7 have both come to exist in our world today.
The first pillar: Production capacity. Don't let the rapid pace at which BMW-badged BEVs have been flying onto our roads deceive; manufacturing components for an electric car is an entirely different ballgame to manufacturing cars with combustion engines. Pivoting towards renewable energy and sustainable materials is part of the equation too.
Starting in 2019 - three years before the third-generation X1 was unveiled - the model's longtime home, Plant Regensburg, had already been slated for huge investments to produce complete high-voltage batteries from 2022. It's the reason why the iX1 and X1 are able to share the same home today. (Plant Dingolfing, long equipped for EVs, assembles the 7 Series and i7.)
While this is set to change in the future, a key quality of BMW's BEVs today is also how familiar they feel. That, in turn, is targeted at making the switch over from its ICE models more seamless.
Hands on the lightly-weighted steering wheel of the iX1 around the smaller roads, the lack of surprise one feels on the inside when coming from the X1 would be extremely stark if not for the fact that we've already experienced this mirrored effect before in other BMW i cars.
For instance, all the mid-sized muscle and practicality of the X3 is also enjoyed on the iX3; those who have taken a liking to the 4 Series Gran Coupe's beautiful swooping silhouette also have the i4 to turn to. Inside all of them - the iX1 and i7 included - space is never compromised too.
The master key that has unlocked all this is platform versatility.
If you thought BMW had only worked its electric magic into the rear-wheel drive centred Cluster Architecture (CLAR) platform (underpinning all its ICE/EV pairings up till the iX1), remember that the X1 and iX1 ride on the UKL2 platform for front-wheel driven cars. Only a pedantic, 'Type A' sort of company would pull off this sort of pre-planning - but isn't that what we want from a luxury carmaker?
Beyond look and feel, other essential qualities are working hand-in-hand with the sense of familiarity: Driving performance and everyday usability.
BMW's fifth-generation eDrive technology, which debuted in the iX3, is also what you'll find under the i7 and iX1.
It's what gives each car the wealth of power we've almost come to demand from EVs, while also maintaining a level of energy efficiency that ensures these are daily-drive - or indeed, cross-Bavaria road-trip friendly.
Kilometre-shredding is fun, but just as importantly on a nearly 400km-long round trip, the i7, with its 101.7kWh battery, needed no recharging. While the iX1 makes do with less capacity (and needed a bit more attention), charging stations incorporated overnight and over lunch mean our timetable and scenic detours are not given a backseat. Before 5:00pm, we are back in Garching - just as planned.
Of course, the iX1 isn't where one should expect the story to end. Bavaria's blue-badged lightning is stretching its branches even further - and naturally impacting the more traditional and household names, as the recent unveiling of the first ever i5 has shown.
But where the i7 may perhaps be described as 'diamond-studded, delectable excess', the iX1 doles out delight in more measured, albeit more-than satisfying quantities.
Newer entrants still will continue to fill in the remaining parts of BMW's 'i' puzzle. Still, with this unassuming, compact all electric SUV nicely bookending the i7 on the other end of the range now, the frame is arguably in place - and the picture is more complete than it's ever been.
Here are a couple of other stories that may interest you!
BMW flagships: The circularity of luxury, today and beyond