BMW explores recycling with the i Vision Circular concept

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  This is the BMW I Vision Circular concept. It imagines the compact BMW of 2040, but the company says that the car’s approach to sustainability will inform the forthcoming Neue Klasse, due in 2025. [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]

MUNICH, GERMANY—The BMW i Vision Round is not the company’s new Neue Klasse . But the new concept, revealed this morning at IAA Mobility, explores idea which the company} says will inform that electric vehicle, due in 2025.

Not so much in the way it looks, which is a shame since this compact one-box shape—described by a fellow journalist as a Cyber Twingo—is a refreshing break from oversized SUVs. Instead, it’s the car’s approach to sustainability that BMW will be running with—”Circular” refers to typically the car’s lifecycle, which aims to use entirely recycled materials resulting in a vehicle that is usually entirely recyclable too. Currently, THE CAR says that across its brands (which include Mini and Rolls-Royce), it’s already at 30 percent recycled and reused materials.

“The BMW i Vision Circular illustrates our all-encompassing, meticulous way of thinking when it comes to sustainable mobility. It symbolises our ambition to be a pioneering force in the development of a circular economy, ” said BMW Chairman Oliver Zipse. “We lead this way for resource efficiency within production and we are seeking to extend this status to all stages of the vehicle life cycle. This is a question of economic sustainability too, as the current trend in commodity prices clearly shows the financial consequences inside store for any industry that is reliant on finite resources. ”