Two coming 2027 models – the first of the “Neue Klasse” cars coming to the U.S. early next year – have been revealed.
2 min
The current BMW i5 electric sedan has an official range of 278 to 310 miles, and it might be closer to 250 to 270 in the real world.
That is why the coming 2027 BMW i3 50 xDrive—the first of the “Neue Klasse” cars coming to the U.S. early next year and just revealed to the world—is such a game changer.
The range is estimated at 440 miles, beating most EVs on the road now, and it is coupled with exciting performance, including zero-to-60 estimated at 3.8 seconds and an impressive 463 horsepower (with 476 pound-feet of torque) from a pair of electric motors, delivering xDrive to all four wheels.
A single-motor version is down the road. The price isn’t out yet, but it is likely to begin between US$55,000 and $65,000.
If sedans aren’t your thing, the electric 3-Series will also be offered as an approximately $60,000 iX3 crossover SUV, which has a similar powertrain and performance.
The twin-motor iX3 50 xDrive has a slightly lower 400 miles of range, due in part to its less-aerodynamic shape compared with the i3. It is also not quite as speedy, getting to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds.
BMW design has been iffy lately, and virtually no one loves the cars with the huge kidney grilles, but the “Neue Klasse” turns the page, and the i3 and iX3 are both strikingly handsome.
The i3 isn’t a particularly lightweight vehicle, at approximately 4,850 pounds, which is why both the i3 and iX3 need a huge 108-kilowatt-hour battery pack.
The drawback could be longer charge times, but up to 400-kilowatt plug ins are available here.
At a DC fast charger, a charge from 10% to 80% should take only 21 minutes.
A 19.2-kilowatt home charger is available. The pack supports standard bidirectional charging, which means it could theoretically provide power to your home during an outage.
A bonus is that the big battery can also supply 3,700 watts for whatever you have in mind, from tailgating to camping.
The cars share basic suspension, but on the sedan an adaptive M-branded suspension is available.
Both BMWs introduce the new Panoramic iDrive, which features an 18-inch touch screen angled at the driver.
Early users say it is incredibly responsive. Inside, the standard trim features Econeer upholstery that is 100% fabricated from recycled PET bottles.
M Design cars upgrade to black Veganza (aka vegan leather). The top trim is BMW Individual with black Merino leather.
It is standard for automakers to introduce their fully loaded models out of the gate, with the more bread-and-butter versions appearing later.
BMW is certainly doing that here, but i3s and iX3s priced below $50,000 are expected fairly soon.
The momentum for electrics has certainly slowed, but cars like these—offering performance, dynamics and features superior to the conventional alternatives—should help EVs get back on track.
Copyright 2020, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. LEARN MORE
The Australian leather house has opened an immersive four-day pop-up in Manhattan, unveiling its Bloom Collection and redefining what a product launch can look like.
Following the successful launch of its Palais Collection, MAISON de SABRÉ has unveiled a new modular handbag system offering more than 720 styling combinations.
Meta is betting on a human-first AI future, but growing legal battles and declining public trust are putting Mark Zuckerberg’s vision to the test.
3 min
“Call us optimists. Call us dreamers. Call us whatever the hell you want, but we’re betting on people, and we like those odds. The future is for everyone.”
That ad copy is from the voice-over of a July Meta Platforms META -3.38%.
spot that’s been part of a public-relations blitz to position Meta as the humanist AI company. The message was undercut by the ad’s inclusion of David Bowie’s “Five Years,” a brooding 1972 song about an impending apocalypse. But this week CEO Mark Zuckerberg left no ambiguity, publishing a 6,500-word manifesto—about 10 times the length of this newsletter—with a title that echoed the ad: “The Future is for Everyone.”
That seems to be Meta’s new tagline. In light of sinking public opinion and the company’s thousands of lawsuits from states, school districts, parents, and users, Meta’s public relations have been defensive. This push represents a return to offense, with a chance to distinguish Meta’s approach to AI from other labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, or SpaceX SPCX +9.65%.
“It is surprising that the discourse from many developing AI is so filled with doom,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I do not understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity’s relevance would rush to build that future.”
Zuckerberg frames what sort of future we build with AI as the central issue of our time. “We believe that delivering superintelligence to everyone is the way to answer this question,” he says. “This has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where individuals can use this powerful new capability to reach their full potential, pursue their interests, and improve their lives and the world more than ever before.”
The flood of words belies the situation on the ground in mid-2026. Americans, at least, have a love-hate affair with social media. A November Pew Research Center poll reported that 71% of U.S. adults used Facebook, and 51% used Instagram. Worldwide, 3.6 billion people use at least one Meta app every day.
But in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in July and August, 61% of respondents said they wanted more government oversight of social media, and two-thirds supported laws to keep children under 16 years old off the platforms. When it comes to Meta in particular, in the 2026 Axios Harris 100, an annual poll about corporate reputation, Meta placed 96th out of 100. It’s only above two other social media companies, Chinese ultracheap retailer Temu, and Spirit Airlines, a defunct air carrier. Regarding ethics, Meta came in last, and it was only ahead of TikTok in trust.
The steady drip of headlines in the teen social media trials isn’t helping. Last week, Meta lost a judgment in New Mexico state court that raised their liability in that relatively small jurisdiction to nearly $1 billion dollars. On Wednesday, jury selection began for a federal case with four states suing Meta over addictive product design, and false marketing that said its platforms were safe for teenagers. In July, Meta claimed that the states are asking for a total of $1.4 trillion in damages, in addition to design changes in the apps. This is part of a multidistrict litigation, where thousands of federal trials with social media defendants are coordinated in Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ district courthouse in Oakland, Calif.
There is a separate such group of thousands of cases in California state court, mostly with individual plaintiffs. The steady drip of bad headlines from the courts will continue unless Meta decides to settle en masse.
Meanwhile, in the second quarter, Meta booked “$2.40 billion of charges related to legal proceedings,” according to its quarterly filing. That may be just the beginning.
Zuckerberg spent 6,500 words getting his utopian message out, but I can sum it up in two: Trust us. The evidence is that Meta has a long way to go to win back that trust.
