At the 2010 BMW Title, we received an exclusive preview of the next generation BMW X3. The new, redesigned and improved premium compact SAV will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show at the end of this month and sales in North America will begin in January 2011.

To detect out more virtually the new X3, the innovations and philiosphy behind the auto, we saturday down for an interview with Joe Wierda, BMW's X3 Product Director.

BMWBLOG: What level of off-route competence has been designed into the new X3?

Joe Wierda: Plainly, when you await at an SUV, and you lot're looking at the segment in the US, those are non the primary features that customers are actually demanding. Sure, they need a basic level of off-road capabilities, and information technology'southward definitely built into the motorcar – I collection the motorcar at our off-road center in the Performance Heart, and it went trough the class that was designed for the X5 really perfectly – it actually got a higher ground clearance than the offset generation X3 then it'south improved, but definitely the focus is more than on-route. Customers in the segment are looking for a auto that sits a little fleck college, has a little scrap more presence, with which they might become off-road occasionally, but that'due south non their focus.

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BMWBLOG: Depict the ideal X3 commuter.

Joe Wierda: Information technology's hard to say whether there's just one ideal X3 buyer, because we learned a lot from the first generation X5 as far as who is actually looking at this vehicle. If I had to really draw an ideal driver, it would exist sort of in two spectrum, actually, peradventure a more youthful or younger family-oriented heir-apparent, who's really looking for a sporty handling SUV, merely needs to have some cargo hauling capabilities, and there are also the "downsizers" – people who are a little bit older, coming out of larger SUVs, they don't accept the needs for their family unit to throw all their stuff in information technology and pile 7 people in the car, and so they're downsizing, looking for a more than nimble vehicle, that you know, they tin can use now because they don't accept to fill up then many people in the car.

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BMWBLOG: What homage does the new X3 pay to the original one, in blueprint features?

Joe Wierda: The proportions take remained relatively the same, but grown in general, so it still has the unique expect, not merely the beltline that raises upwards into the Hofmeister kink. Bear-over features in design elements are really only the philosophy of the car, where it sits within the segment. It's not quite the size of an X5 and it'south not nearly as small as the X1, but it'south bigger than the get-go generation, so it's more of having its own unique identity with some of these character lines, and nevertheless maintaining its position inside the BMW lineup. The designers may tell you lot more than nearly the exact proportions of the bicycle, and the front to the rear. If you lot look at the hood impressions from the front, and y'all expect at today's car – that's as well very similar. Merely for me the most obvious is the beltline, because nosotros don't have whatsoever other auto that looks like that.

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BMWBLOG: Ability trains – diesel – hybrids – is this something the market could see here?

Joe Wierda: It's a challenge looking at the future and trying to predict exactly what power train technologies nosotros desire to become with. We've had a lot of success with our diesels, not just in the sedans, just with the X5. Something like a thirty% mix of our existing X5 sales are diesel fuel at present. That's only in two years that it's taken off to that level. We definitely meet diesel and the SAVs together in the hereafter. We will launch the X3 with the 28i gasoline 6-cylinder inline and then the turbo-charged 6-cylinder inline on the xDrive 35i and nosotros're also looking at diesel fuel and hybrid as well, because I'grand thinking that segment has definitely customers who are looking for efficient technologies and a diesel hybrid could make sense there.

BMWBLOG: Would you say that the X5 diesel fuel is more than of a road-opener for BMW in the Us?

Joe Wierda: For sure. There is a demand for people to run across a payback when they buy an efficient technology and certain hybrids out in that location are more about – y'all know, you spend a lot of money but y'all may not see a payback in terms of your efficiency and savings. The X5 diesel really does that and I think you've seen inside your ownership period (Our Note: BMWBLOG drove an X5 diesel fuel for two weeks) that you become your money back and the corporeality of fuel that yous don't spend money on. So we really want to provide that value equation in the future, because I think the sexiness of a hybrid that costs a lot more than out to buy is probably going to wear off in the time to come and people are going to be more rational with their purchases.

BMWBLOG: How many parts are shared across the SUV lineup, peculiarly in the bulldoze train?

Joe Wierda: I couldn't give you an exact number or percent of the parts they're shared, but if you await at the engines for example, where there are thousands of parts, we're very consistent with our engines across the lineup: the 35i power train in the X3 is almost identical to the 35i power train in the X5, the 8-speed automatic has also just launched on the X5, and then in terms of power train we do a very consistent arroyo across the models. But in terms of the chassis and the rest of the parts – very much tune for the X3 so it is unique. But once again, like the electrical compages shares a lot of the compages from the X5 and besides the electronic infotainment comes from the 7-serial and five-series.

BMWBLOG: The original X3 was designed with the agile young professionals in mind, who like hiking, etc. What sort of parcel does the X3 bring to this blazon of consumers, who potentially demand more than from their SUVs?

Joe Wierda: When we launched the first car, information technology was definitely targeted towards that audience – originally that segment didn't really exist. And then who knew exactly those buyers demands – nosotros had an idea and I think we met the needs of these buyers, only pushed information technology peradventure a little bit too extreme, and for some people that's not the direction they were looking for.

So we realized that there was a flake more of a mainstream customer, like I said a lot of empty nesters and young families, and a lot of youthful people, but not quite as extreme and off-road as we've envisioned. So this machine goes mayhap a petty more mature and that where we see the segment going.

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BMWBLOG: With competition from vehicles like the Audi Q5, what does the X3 bring out to combat this tough competition? We would presume the Q5 would be the main competitor here in the U.s.a..

Joe Wierda: Yes, the Q5 has been the sales leader in the last few months. With the Q5 – they've done a good job with bringing adept value and a skilful blueprint to the segment. A lot of people looking for a automobile in that segment have gone straight to Audi because they have a pretty compelling product. What nosotros bring dorsum to the segment is this magic mix of ride treatment and value that we have in our 3-series. That we've done quite well.

You lot could ask the aforementioned thing about the three-series: Why the people like a iii-series versus the competition, like Audi or Mercedes, and basically nosotros're bringing that philosophy to the X3 and I really retrieve we've done it right this time and people who will drive the car volition see that this serves their needs for everyday functionality and besides gives them great ride and handling experience but it's likewise a skillful compromise between ride and comfort every bit well. While the original X3 perhaps went on a bit more on the extreme and in terms of handling, which could have been as well much for some of the people in that segment.

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BMWBLOG: Also the feedback you received on the cup holders, is in that location any other feedback from the onetime X3 that led to specific features in the new 1?

Joe Wierda: Certainly. Every bit I mentioned, the ride and treatment has been substantially improved – a much improve compromise between ride handling and condolement on the base break, but we've also got the optional dynamic damping control as well, then you can vary your suspension tuning to cater to any driving experience you're carrying on. Besides the interior quality has been stepped up probably even beyond what the typical BMW normally has been in the past. We've had some criticism with the interior quality of the original X3, and this car I think takes it up all the way up to the meridian of the BMW level of craftsmanship, that our customer expect. Things like the contrast stitching and the nice wood trim, I think customers are going to look dorsum and see that equally substantial improvement.

BMWBLOG: Is the low-volume of sales in manual transmission the main reason why information technology's not going to exist offered once more in the US?

Joe Wierda: Yes. We did accept a number of bully enthusiasts who bought our transmission transmission, just once again, it does require a substantial corporeality of development effort to bring a different power train variant and we actually saw a pretty pocket-size need, somewhere effectually 1-2% for manual transmission. And I think the eight-speed automatic in this car – while still not a transmission – it still won't give yous a third pedal, simply in this car the 8-speed is but for the majority of customers a corking transmission.

BMWBLOG: X1 and X5 – where does the X3 fit in?
Joe Wierda: Pretty much similar the iii serial fills the need between the one-serial and the 5-series.

BMWBLOG: Thank you.

Pricing has yet to be announced, but BMW acknowledged that more standard features will be included in the base of operations price. Both the X3 xDrive28i and xDrive35i will be available at the market launch in January 2011.