BMW’s Next-Gen Electric SUV Copies One of Tesla’s Most Controversial Choices

Even if you’ve never driven a Tesla in your life, you might be more familiar with what it’s like to own one than you think.

Tesla, as the top dog in the EV world, has influenced a lot of the choices we see in modern, non-Tesla electric cars and there’s one arena where its influence is definitely undeniable: infotainment. Don’t believe me? Well, then I suggest you check out BMW’s vision of a next-gen SUV...

BMW Vision Neue Klasse X

We’ve still yet to see a complete picture of BMW’s next-gen EVs, but a recent teaser of the new BMW Vision Neue Klasse X electric SUV is giving us some insight into what the automaker has in store.

While BMW is camouflaging the outside of its next electric SUV, it gave at least a small unobstructed glimpse of what the inside of the EV could look like, and well, it looks a lot like the inside of a different company’s EV — I’m talking about Tesla, of course

Here’s a picture of the tablet-sized screen inside a Tesla Model 3, for reference:

To be sure (if this is the final design of its SUV) BMW would not be the first company to adopt a Tesla-like infotainment tablet as part of its central design, but it’s still significant, especially given the current state of a lot of BMW’s current EVs.

While the iX series incorporates a big boy touchscreen (notably in a vastly different aspect ratio than Tesla EVs) there are still lots of physical controls that go along with them. In BMW’s teaser image, however, the screen appears to be the central way of navigating your car’s software, much like inside a Tesla.

Depending on your taste, the Tesla-fication of BMW’s next EV could either be a big selling point or a red flag...

Depending on your taste, the Tesla-fication of BMW’s next EV could either be a big selling point or a red flag, but one thing is for sure — it’ll be a departure from the current design language of BMWs EVs.

To complement that Tesla-fication, the Neue Klass X appears to also have a somewhat stripped-down interior; one might even call it minimalist, which is also definitely a word that describes Tesla’s EVs. Personally, I find Tesla minimalism boring, but clearly, given the amount of EVs the company has sold, my taste does not represent the general public.

The BMW Vision Neue Klasse X Reveal

We won’t have to wait very long to see exactly what BMW’s new class of EVs looks like, since the Vision Neue Klasse X is set to be revealed in a few days on March 21.

If you’re already a fan of BMW's current interior, you may want to buckle up because things are definitely set to go in a different direction.