Ex-McLaren Designer Reimagines BMW Electric Sedan Concept

Stare for a moment and you’ll see the argument: what if BMW’s next electric sedan didn’t arrive with the familiar Neue Klasse face everyone’s arguing about? What if it arrived wearing a cleaner, bolder personality?

When a concept rewrites the rulebook

That idea is exactly what former McLaren designer Max Ashkainder explored in a private concept sketch that has been circulating among car fans. It’s unofficial, yes, but the work is sharper than a studio exercise. The silhouette is a four-door coupe — high-shouldered, with narrow windows that give the body a compact, purposeful stance. Short, precise lines do the heavy lifting; nothing feels decorative for its own sake.

The rear is deliberately restrained. BMW’s signature lights are present but simplified. The diffuser shows no exhaust outlets, a quiet reminder this is an EV. Up front is where Ashkainder gets playful: an inverted U form wraps the LED units and the vertical kidney grilles into one cohesive element, a single gesture that blends tradition with a futuristic twist.

He didn’t stop at one scene. The concept appears in different roles — from a safety car at a racing weekend to a city commuter carving through tight streets — which says a lot about the ambition behind the lines. It’s not just a styling study; it’s a proposal about versatility and identity.

Why does any of this matter? Because BMW’s Neue Klasse rollout has been as polarizing as it is consequential. The brand is clearly trying to reset its visual language for an electric-first future, but some recent models, including the new-generation iX3, have sparked mixed reactions because of their grille treatments and frontal layout. Fans want continuity. Critics want coherence. Designers want freedom.

Concepts like Ashkainder’s don’t rewrite production plans overnight. They do, however, remind the conversation that design can be directional and decisive: small windows and a taut shoulder can make an electric sedan look agile, not bloated. A single, clean front motif can replace visual clutter. And sometimes, a fresh interpretation from outside the brand’s immediate circle provokes better thinking inside it.

Not every radical sketch becomes reality. But sketches that ask a clear question — could a BMW electric sedan be sculpted more like this? — are the ones that end up nudging a direction. That nudge might be enough.