From precision to innovation

WHEN Mihiar Ayoubi joined BMW three decades ago, he entered a world obsessed with precision engineering and the pursuit of the ultimate driving machine.

- WILLEM VAN DE PUTTE

Currently, as the head of BMW Driving Experience, he talks about the transformation of driving itself - from purely mechanical systems to intelligent, connected platforms and, now, to a completely new electric era.

“For 30 years I've lived through the evolution of driving dynamics, and with this Neue Klasse platform we've been able to take everything we've learned and start fresh - something that comes once in a century,” he said during an interview after the global reveal of the BMW iX3 in Munich.

Three decades of transformation

Ayoubi describes the journey of BMW's driving dynamics in three distinct stages.

“The first decade was mechanical,” he explained. “When I joined, it was all about chassis design — four-arm, three-arm - a masterpiece of engineering. I learned from the best at BMW, people who lived and breathed mechanical perfection.”

The second decade brought a shift to mechatronics.

“Subsystems became intelligent. Steering gained actuators and electronic control units, brakes gained intelligence, and anti-roll systems came into play. It opened up a new dimension. We could add layers of enhancement without losing that BMW character.”

By the third decade, connectivity became the defining feature. “These intelligent subsystems began to talk to each other. Steering communicated with braking, with the engine, with the transmission and the all-wheel drive. It was a connected chassis, a network that fundamentally changed how the car behaved.”

But, Ayoubi says, the most radical step came with electrification.

“Normally, when you develop cars, the blueprint is already written. You make incremental changes. With our new electric platform, we had the chance to start from zero. That is incredibly rare.”