BMW iX Says “OK, Boomer” to Legendary 7 Series Flagship

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It's not often you get to see an automaker insult its own products but now's your chance. BMW has put together a video introducing the latest version of the brand's iDrive multimedia interface that premieres at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, and in it, two BMW models come to life—and turn out to be royal jerks.

The video shows the confrontation between two anthropomorphized BMWs: a classic E66 760Li and the new 2022 iX electric SUV that is about to replace it on BMW's corporate display stand. When the humans leave, the cars come alive. The 7 Series starts itself up and goes bumper-to-bumper with the iX.

"""Hey, whippersnapper!"" the big sedan calls out in a gravelly old-man voice."

"""Hey, Grandpa!"" replies the apparently-millennial iX."

"The cars begin to trade insults, with the iX telling the 760Li ""Your time is over"" and ""It's impossible to talk to your generation."" The 760Li calls the iX ""a toy car"" and invites it to ""Electric-drive yourself to hell, Tamagotchi!"" When the argument turns to the merits of their respective iDrive systems, the 760Li dismisses the iX's new one—y'know, the one the video is supposed to be promoting—as ""Bullshit. Marketing bullshit."""

More barbs are traded, there's a short chase followed by a reconciliation, and we are left staring at our screen wondering what the eff we just watched. The 7 Series, supposedly one of BMW's greatest cars, is portrayed as a hey-you-kids-get-off-my-lawn dotard straight out of Central Casting, while the iX is a spoiled brat with little respect for politeness or civil discourse, let alone its elders.

Maybe the stereotype of BMW drivers being douchebags is wrong—in this video, it's the BMWs themselves that are the douchebags. Proof positive that for all their accomplishments, the Germans have yet to develop a working sense of humor.

2022 BMW iX's Starting Price Puts It Squarely in Tesla Model X Territory

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The 2022 BMW iX is on its way to a dealership near you. Admittedly, it isn't the prettiest car in the world (its interior design, however, represents a significantly better design effort than that of its exterior), but the BMW electric SUV does signal a host of important changes for the German brand. There's little doubt, as well, that BMW would like the iX to dethrone the Tesla Model X as consumers' electric luxury SUV of choice.

According to BMW, the iX will start around the mid-$80,000 range for the ix xDrive 50 when pre-orders for the SUV begin in the middle of the year. That sum gets a vehicle that supports charging at up to 200 kW, has a 0-60-mph time of under 5.0 seconds, and ought to manage nearly 300 miles of driving range on a full charge. While we'll have to wait for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get its hands on an iX to verify that range, we do know even BMW's claimed range for the SUV falls short of the entry-level Tesla SUV, which manages 360 miles of driving range on a full charge, per the EPA.

There's no word on whether BMW plans to introduce either cheaper or pricier iterations of the Model X with smaller or larger battery capacity (and thus more or less driving range). The same goes for a more powerful iteration of the iX, the arrival of which would allow the BMW electric SUV to compete with the Model X Plaid. That said, BMW did reveal some new details on just how much effort it's putting into the iX's manufacturing process.

According to BMW, the iX is built with an eye toward sustainability. BMW's materials division set sustainability targets on parts procurement and sourcing well before the project started, and it has worked with parts suppliers to try and meet those goals. The result is a car that is built with recyclable materials and electric motors that ditch a permanent-magnet setup for electromagnets. That means the iX's motors (not the battery) can be built without using rare earth metals.

That's pretty cool, and the German automaker is looking to clean up its production cycle by sourcing the parts for the rest of its cars more responsibly, manufacturing the cars more sustainably, and ensuring that its cars' parts can eventually be recycled. That's no bad thing when you consider how many electric and hybrid models the brand plans on producing over the next several years.