As is often the case with new digital tech, BMW is waiting to reveal the screen’s full functionality nearer to launch, but Junghanns says several conceptual ways of accessing that content were considered. ![]() Junghanns says one of the other key decisions during the interior’s design development was how to present digital content – how big the screens should be, where they should be positioned and more. It’s the only instance of wood in the iX.” So you have an interesting feel at your fingertips as well as a highly technical surface. We didn’t totally get rid of wood – there’s the coffee table-like centre console with an open-pore option – but it also has integrated interface functions without shutlines. Re-using and up-cycling materials tells us there are new and intelligent ways to use materials on the inside of the car. But sustainability influences our interior design quite heavily. It was not a conscious decision to avoid bent wood as on the i3. “The BMW i design department has a special role within the group to push the limits with new processes, technologies and aesthetics, which could be highly relevant to the BMW Group overall. " We are not so keen on establishing an aesthetic code we reproduce over and over"Īs the iX follows the i3 and Junghanns worked on both, was there a desire or temptation to follow the original BMW EV’s interior design theme, featuring the revolutionary (for a car) bent wood dashboard? “We are not so keen on establishing an aesthetic code we reproduce over and over,” Junghanns says. On the interior you have the flat floor concept, purpose-built components and a free-standing middle table console, so we could create more of an interior experience within a smaller footprint.” “The exterior ingredients of the iX are really powerful: the length of an X5, the wheel size of an X7 and more or less the roofline of an X6. In terms of size, no one at BMW will reveal exact dimensions but Junghanns puts the car into context via references to existing models. He goes on to explain that ideas were taken from various sources, but the mothership studio in Munich took the design into production. Junghanns explains the iX’s exterior and interior design process started at the same time back in the autumn of 2016 with designers from all of the group’s key global studios in Shanghai, Munich and Los Angeles putting forward sketches to interpret the design brief simply called ‘the futurist’. ‘A loft of wheels’ is one of the metaphors we use often – something that feels cool, casual, familiar, reduced and reflective of the paradigm shift going on in the automotive world.” “It’s very modern, highly intelligent, packed with the latest technology but at the same time it’s a space that makes you feel at home. “From the beginning this car was developed from the inside to the outside to give the experience of a spacious room,” Junghanns begins. ![]() The iX will no doubt drive well too, just like the i3, but to find out more about the inside, Interior Motives got on the phone to Matthias Junghanns, BMW i’s head of interior design, and also incidentally, a veteran of the i3 interior design project. Now more than ever, a truly convincing user experience, better connectivity and overall comfort are becoming relevant selling points for many potential EV customers – even historic BMW ones previously attracted first to the long-established fantastic handling of the German marque’s cars. Unveiled seven years after the critically-acclaimed, but commercially weak-selling i3 launched in 2013, the iX will go on sale in 2021. To these eyes at least, the interior of the iX appears far less divisive than the exterior and will be a crucial element to the success or failure of the long-awaited second all-electric BMW. ![]() Given the controversy behind BMW’s current exterior design strategy – notably its increasingly large and flary-nostrilled grilles – it was interesting that head of BMW Group design Adrian van Hooydonk chose to start his online presentation for the new iX mid-size SUV from the driver’s seat. The latest all-electric Beamer has divided opinion thanks to its controversial styling, but the interiors team will have no such concerns with a striking, unconventional layout that allies boutique hotel design with hidden tech
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