BMW can’t count on the sound of a straight-six engine to serenade passengers in its upcoming electric Neue Klasse sedan, so it’s taking a different approach. The brand drew inspiration from nature and architecture, among other sources, to create a new sound concept called HypersonX that should allow it to differentiate its upcoming electric vehicles from the competition and its own current offerings.
Integrated into the Panoramic iDrive system, the HypersonX soundscape was developed by BMW’s Sound Design Studio in Munich. That’s significant, because the soundscape in some of the brand’s current EVs, including the iX, was created with input from celebrated film composer Hans Zimmer.
We haven’t heard what the Neue Klasse sounds like yet, but we’re told the soundscape consists of no less than 43 sound signals and special driving sounds sometimes linked to the driving modes. BMW claims this vast selection of sounds will “create an emotional interaction between the driver and their vehicle” by adapting the sound to the driving situation. This isn’t new: BMW’s current EVs sound different in Sport mode than, say, in Eco mode. What’s about to change is that HypersonX incorporates fewer basic notes but a wider acoustic spectrum, with far greater dynamic range.
The result should sound a little more natural, if these pictures released by BMW are any indication. One shows someone taking notes while holding a pretty-looking rock. Another shows an audio engineer wearing headphones while holding a microphone up to a leaf, Jurassic Park-style.
It all sounds pretty out there, at least on paper. “Under acceleration, the vehicle gives the impression of moving between different three-dimensional layers of sound, thus transporting the feeling of speed and BMW-typical driving dynamics authentically into the cabin,” a release from the company claims.
We’ll reserve our judgment until we experience it first-hand. But the idea wasn’t to make the Neue Klasse sound like a robot-controlled flying saucer. There’s a human element to the soundscape as well. BMW asked members of its design department to talk about a recent moment of joy. It recorded each answer, turned the recordings into sounds, and integrated them all into the welcome sequence that plays when you enter the car. Put another way, the same people who designed the Neue Klasse will sing for you every time you hop in the driver’s seat.
Adding a human element to the Neue Klasse highlights one of the main pillars of the project. In September 2023, when the Neue Klasse concept made its debut, then-BMW lead designer Domagoj Dukec told me that the styling reflects the fact that people want a car that’s simple, clean, and easy to understand. “It’s much bigger than just an aesthetic approach. We want to turn the car from bad to good,” he said.
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