CarBrandLogos archive · BMW · 1962

BMWNew Class (1500)

The mid-size saloon that rescued the company and defined everything after it.

The story

A defining chapter in BMW history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the BMW New Class (1500), then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

After the crisis of 1959, BMW had one chance and knew it. The company had nothing between bubble cars and unaffordable luxury saloons, and the Neue Klasse was designed to occupy exactly that gap: a four-door saloon of moderate size and price, engineered better than its competitors and priced above them on that basis. It was shown in 1961 and in production from 1962.

BMW 1800 TI-SA 1965 white vr TCE · Stahlkocher · CC BY-SA 3.0

BMW 1500 sedan at Volkswagen Autostadt in Wolfsburg

Design and engineering

The engine was new and consequential. Alex von Falkenhausen's M10, a single-overhead-cam four, went into the 1500 and stayed in production until 1987; in heavily developed turbocharged form it powered the Brabham that won the 1983 Formula One drivers' championship. The chassis was equally modern for a mid-market saloon: MacPherson struts at the front, semi-trailing arms at the rear, discs at the front. Wilhelm Hofmeister's body gave the car slim pillars, a forward-canted nose and a kinked rear side window that BMW has quoted on its cars ever since.

BMW 1500 sedan at Volkswagen Autostadt in Wolfsburg · Charles01 · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

It sold immediately and kept selling, spawning 1800 and 2000 versions, the 1800 TI/SA homologation specials, and in 1966 the shortened two-door 1600-2 and the 2002, which took the same engineering into a cheaper and lighter package and made BMW's reputation in the United States.

BMWE9CSa · Olli1800 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Legacy

More than any single model before it, this is the car that decided what a BMW is: ordinary in size and format, better in engineering and more eager to be driven than its rivals, and sold on that difference. The 5 Series took over from the saloons in 1972 and the E9 from the coupés. Everything since has been a variation on the argument the Neue Klasse made first, which is why BMW put the name on its electric cars sixty years later.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1962–1972

Engine

1.5-2.0&nbsp

Designer

Wilhelm Hofmeister

Body

4-door sedan

Technical specification

The New Class (1500), in detail.

Production: 1962–1972
Body style: 4-door sedan ; 2-door GT coupe
Layout: FR layout
Engine: 1.5-2.0 L M10 4-cyl
Designer: Wilhelm Hofmeister
Assembly: West Germany: Munich ; Indonesia: Jakarta (:de:Gaya Motor; Gaya Motor)
Manufacturer: BMW