The all-electric BMW iX3 is nearing its production start, which is planned for the late summer of this year, a few months before the model goes on sale across the globe. The Bavarian company is putting the finishing touches on the crossover and has just confirmed that it has successfully completed the testing required for homologation and the results have been submitted to the regulatory authorities in key automotive markets.
The iX3 has been tested for more than 4,785 miles (7,700 kilometers) over more than 340 hours within four weeks. Meanwhile, the manufacturer has prepared its Shenyang plant for the mass production of the model, where the 200th pre-production model recently came off the assembly lines. Everything seems to be moving on plan.
"We are right on schedule with our BMW iX3 pre-production vehicles and will launch standard production in late summer, using state-of-the-art technologies such as custom installation of the new high-voltage battery and artificial intelligence for monitoring parts," Robert Küssel, BBA Plant Director Dadong. "We are also producing the fully-electric BMW iX3 and the BMW X3 with combustion engine on the same production line. This enables us to achieve high efficiency and flexibility in production."
The cat's pretty much out of the bag when it comes to the first-ever all-electric X3. Leaked photos revealed the exterior design of the crossover will be very similar to the conventional X3 with the only differences being a few blue accents and a few tweaks to the bumpers.
The final production version of the iX3 will use a 74-kilowatt-hour battery pack feeding a single electric motor producing a peak output of 286 horsepower (210 kilowatts) and 296 pound-feet (400 Newton-meters) of torque. Powering the rear wheels, the all-electric powertrain will provide an estimated range of 273 miles (440 kilometers) in Europe's forgiving WLTP test. Don't expect to see it on sale in the United States.
