BMW i Vision Dee is a retro‑futuristic colour‑changing concept

And might we say congratulations to BMW on this one. Some of the futuristic concepts previewing what’s to come from the marque have left us feeling a little gloomy. Yet what we have here is a handsomely proportioned three-box saloon with more than a couple of nods to the last time a BMW was called ‘Neue Klasse’. BMW calls it Reductive Design, ‘deliberately pared down to focus attention on the digital experience and the DNA of the BMW brand’. It’s a design that’s laden with heritage – praise be for the retention of the Hoffmeister kink – while also looking like BMW’s best stab yet at making a Tesla look like a relic.

Okay, so it looks great. But what really comprises a Digital Emotional Experience in this case? Well, the concept previews BMW’s mixed reality slider, its advanced head-up display (which we’ll see on production models from 2025) and some very clever full colour E Ink tech, allowing you to choose from as many as 32 colours for your car at any moment.

They’re really not joking about the Digital Experience bit, given that the body of the Dee is effectively a giant screen. This follows on from the iX Flow of last year, which debuted the black and white E Ink tech.

Those retro black ‘grilles’? Gone, if you so choose. In fact, in the so-called ‘welcome scenario’, the nose can be animated and even have ‘facial expressions’ and ‘express moods such as joy, astonishment or approval’. The car can be configured any which way, including making it look like a patchwork quilt or technicolour dreamcoat, thanks to the 240 individual E Ink sections. Imagine the Art Car possibilities…

Returning to the realms of what you might actually be able to have on your car, the Dee also features the Advanced BMW Head-up Display. Said to be going into production on the Neue Klasse from 2025, this HUD uses the entire windscreen. The BMW Mixed Reality Slider controls it, allowing five stages of digital appearance, ranging from analogue, to driving info, to comms, augmented reality projection and finally, full-on ‘entry into virtual worlds’. The latter utilises the dimmable windows to ‘gradually fade out reality’.

“With BMW i Vision Dee, we are showing how the car can be seamlessly integrated into your digital life and become a trusty companion,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design.

“The vehicle itself becomes your portal to the digital world – with the driver always in control. Implemented the right way, technology will create worthwhile experiences, make you a better driver and simply bring humans and machines closer together.”

E Ink, virtual worlds – it all sounds very fun. But on a serious note, we have a feeling the Dee is actually our best look yet of what future BMWs will actually look like, not what they could look like as set dressing in a Blade Runner movie – i Vision Circular, we’re looking at you. The tech is cool but based on the looks alone, for the first time with one of these, we’re assured BMW won’t lose its sense of style as we head into a fully digitised, electrified future.