Most people have always thought that BMW is synonymous with pure driving pleasure, but this is based on rear-wheel drive, but in the past few years, the automotive industry has undergone significant changes, and BMW's platform architecture has also evolved, such as the FAAR platform we talked about this time.
In 2014, BMW launched the UKL (Unter Klasse) front-wheel drive architecture platform to develop compact cars in different market segments, with two derivative architectures: UKL1 and UKL2. The former architecture models include F56/F55/F57 and so on.
Later, in 2017, BMW launched the UKL2, also known as the FAAR platform (Frontantriebsarchitektur), which has been upgraded a lot from the previous architecture, and the overall weight is lighter and more adaptable, especially for the pure electric powertrain. There are now hatchbacks 1 Series, 2 Series Active Tourer, 2 Series Gran Coupe, X1/X2 and MINI Countryman, among others.
One of the most significant advantages of the FAAR platform is its flexibility, which can be adapted to all powertrains, including gasoline, plug-in hybrid, and pure electric, and this modular approach to production ensures that BMW can meet different market needs and environments without the need for a separate platform for each powertrain. At the same time, FAAR also has some limitations, such as the battery capacity of pure electric vehicles based on this platform is not too large.
In the last two years, BMW has the Neue Klasse architecture, which can accommodate a variety of components and powertrains, including one, two, three or even four electric motors, and the first models built on this architecture will be released next year, and the electric drive system will be upgraded to the sixth-generation eDrive.
BMW will distinguish the NCAR platform from the rest with a new nomenclature that will start with "N" in all models based on this platform:
- The "NAx" will be used in rear-wheel drive models such as the i3, i4, iX3, and iX4, such as the NA5 for the iX3 and the NA0 for the i3 sedan.
- The "NBx" will be used in front-wheel drive models such as the i1, i2, and iX1, such as the i1 is NB0 and the iX1 is NB5.
- The NDx will be used in top-of-the-line models such as the i7, iX7 and 8 Series.
- BMW M products based on the NCAR platform will start with "Z", such as the all-electric version of the next-generation BMW M3, codenamed ZA0).
- The MINI product based on the NCAR platform will be named "NEx".
- ALPINA may also incorporate naming conventions, and Rolls-Royce does not yet know if it will be integrated into it or develop a separate platform.
According to BMW's information, the NCAR cluster architecture has three major features: (1) a newly developed electronic and electrical architecture, a new user interface and human-computer interaction concept, and (2) a newly developed battery, motor and electronic control system that takes into account high performance and high efficiency. (3) The level of circular sustainability in the whole life cycle of products has reached a new height.
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