Impressive German electric cars at the IAA – finally delivered!

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A new era is dawning at BMW with the New Class: the iX3 and the i3 saloon, which is still in foil, are excellent electric cars. The iX3 is so good that the critics of driving with electricity are probably running out of arguments. The situation is similar in the Volkswagen Group: the family of small cars from the VW ID. Polo to the Skoda Epiq is tailor-made for the average European customer. These electric cars are normal in the best sense of the word, but have an abnormally large trunk. After the CLA, Mercedes presents the GLC EQ. The SUV is the world's best-selling passenger car with a star – and is available as an electric car for the first time as the GLC EQ.

The problem is that this first-class product offensive is at odds with what industry representatives and politicians are publicly demanding. How and what the industry association ACEA (Association des Constructeurs Européens d'Automobiles) communicates and is supported by the ruling Union parties (CDU and CSU) in Germany is somewhere between incomprehensible and embarrassing.

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• Mercedes-Benz EQA 250 im Test

The old contradiction was that the German car industry announced electric cars, but only delivered insufficiently. The new contradiction of this IAA is that electric cars are very convincing, and this advantage is being talked down by lobby organizations and politicians. It is absurd.

A range of 372 km in ten minutes

Take the BMW iX3, for example: the range in the WLTP measurement procedure is up to 805 km. The traction battery has an energy content of just under 109 kWh. When charging stops, the stroke from ten to 80 percent is completed in 21 minutes, as the average net charging power is around 217 kW. It takes ten minutes to recharge the battery for 372 km. Everyone should check for themselves whether this would be sufficient – and at the same time be aware that even this charging performance is only an intermediate stage. There will be further progress in the coming years.

Similar price, four times the tax for diesel engines

The BMW iX3 50 xDrive is available from 68,900 euros. Included are two drive motors with a system output of 345 kW, which accelerate the SUV to 100 km/h in 4.9 seconds and on to 210 km/h. That's actually crazy fast. BMW will follow up with less expensive variants. Perhaps for 65,000 euros, perhaps for 60,000 euros. For comparison: an X3 20d xDrive with a 145 kW diesel engine costs from 62,300 euros. In view of the four-fold company car tax on the diesel engine, the question is: Who will still buy the X3 20d? Allegedly those customers who need to tow a trailer. The fact is, however, that the towing capacity of the iX3 with 2000 kg is no longer lagging behind the X3 with 2500 kg. Incidentally, a Mercedes GLQ EQ can tow 2400 kg, and the Kia EV9 or the Hyundai Ioniq 9 can tow 2500 kg.

DC wallbox for 2175 euros

BMW does even more. While CEO Oliver Zipse never tires of calling for "technological openness" – in other words: the continued construction of the combustion engine until nobody wants it any more – the price list for the New Class includes another unusual feature: a DC wallbox designed for bidirectional charging for 2094 euros. Sounds like an exorbitant price. But until recently, a wallbox that works with direct current instead of alternating current (DC instead of AC) was supposedly not feasible for less than 10,000 euros, then 5000 euros or most recently 3000 euros.

Now it is unspectacularly listed in the BMW price list for 2094 euros, and hardly anyone thinks this is worth mentioning, even though bidirectional charging can make a major contribution to the energy transition. The family of small cars that the Volkswagen Group has brought to the IAA will also have bidirectional charging capability: The VW ID. Polo and the VW ID. Cross, the Skoda Epiq and the Cupra Raval. The Volkswagen company Elli is presenting a bidirectional DC wallbox from Ambibox in Mainz at the IAA.

Volkswagen: Small electric cars, large trunk space

For Volkswagen, it is the third generation of electric cars after the VW e-Golf and the VW e-Up (endurance test) and later the ID series (since 2020). In terms of design and operation, it goes back to the roots. The developers have used the advantages of the electric drive in the design. The space economy is particularly successful: the trunk volume in the VW ID. Cross, for example, is 450  litres in the rear plus 25  litres in the front.

The huge luggage compartment for this class is thanks to a recess located behind the rear axle. Role model: Tesla. Volkswagen has rightly attracted harsh criticism and paid billions of euros due to manipulated exhaust emissions from diesel engines. Today's electric cars prove it: Volkswagen has got the message.

Mercedes before the turnaround

The third remaining German car company is Mercedes. Mercedes is acting late. The current range of electric cars, from the EQA (test) and EBQ to the EQE and EQS, the associated SUVs and the EQV van, will be replaced by 2027. To put it positively, these were transitional models. After the CLA and GLC (two extremely important model series for Mercedes), the EQA and EQB (2026) as well as the electric C-Class and E-Class, including the T models from 2027. Everything will be new. But until it is, CEO Ola Källenius, who is also President of the ACEA, is positioning himself as an advocate of so-called alternatives to the electric car – knowing full well what this will mean for Mercedes in the medium term.

Defending the plug-in hybrid against all reason

As ACEA President, he is calling, among other things, for the tightening of the limit values for plug-in hybrid cars (keyword: "utilization factor") to be lifted. No wonder, because this is exactly what Mercedes has to get away with by 2027. Källenius has the backing of the German CDU/CSU parties. For companies whose business is based on electric cars, such demands are a problem: planning security is being damaged. The infrastructure sector, as well as vehicle manufacturers such as Polestar and Volvo, have sent an open letter to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen asking her to stand firm and not soften the CO₂ limits. Piquant: Mercedes needs the electric cars from Polestar and Volvo in order to remain penalty-free through joint CO₂ accounting ("pooling").

The stocktaking at the IAA 2025, on the other hand, is clear. There, the German car industry presented electric cars that will probably make every interested party at least have a closer look. And the competition? They are exhibiting electric cars at the Open Space outside the core IAA. Nevertheless, it is so good that the domestic manufacturers could never afford not to make an offer. It is an elementary part of the analysis of the IAA: if you don't sell electric cars, you go under. The competition is now very strong.

Full-range supplier Hyundai, Renault

Take Hyundai, for example, with its associated group brand Kia. It is fascinating to see how the gaps in the range are closing. The upcoming Ioniq 3, for example, serves the B segment and will have a different character to the Kia EV3 SUV. It is also to the South Koreans' credit that they have democratized a battery system with 800 volts. The Ioniq 5, 6 and 9 have it. The Staria van will probably get it soon.

Not forgetting the Kia EV6 (test) and EV9. The Hyundai Group has gained a lot of experience (unfortunately not only good experience with the ICCU charging unit), and it is obvious that the e-GMP platform will be improved at some point. Even faster, even more efficient.

Renault is also one of the full-range suppliers, where the Twingo will be presented at the Paris Motor Show (the IAA is organized by the German VDA) in autumn 2026 at the latest, and also has a number of commercial vehicles in its portfolio.

The counterarguments are running out

The fact that BYD, the world market leader in electric cars, is coming to Munich with the dubious plug-in hybrid Seal 6 is one of the IAA's bizarre aspects: a battery specialist with a combustion engine? At first glance, it doesn't seem to go together. The Chinese brands will become stronger, even if they are currently in the discovery phase in terms of sales and are selling few vehicles.

Back to the starting point, the BMW iX3 of the New Class. It represents the big picture. Everything that is the benchmark in this price class today will be followed by the segments below it tomorrow. Range? More than enough. Charging time? Short. Price? No higher than its combustion engine counterpart. Towing capacity: available. Counterarguments?

By 2025, electric cars will have reached the point that enthusiasts would have liked to see as early as 2015. Even now, electric cars have by no means reached the end of their development; the opposite is the case – things are just getting started. Because that is part of the reality: the market share is around 20 percent. This means that four out of five new cars have a combustion engine. These cars are also expected to be on European roads for 15 to 20 years, provided they are not deprived of their power before then due to the foreseeable rise in fuel prices.

(kbe)