EDITORIAL: IAA Mobility 2025: A new class of auto show

Aside from in this editorial, you won't find mention of the just-concluded IAA Mobility 2025 event in Munich in this issue. Print deadlines meant that the best I was able to offer in terms of coverage was this column. This year's IAA was what I (and many people I spoke with at the show) now consider one of the most engaging and exciting mobility shows we've had in years. We'll have the details for you in our next issue, and the various articles and interviews will be available at our new website (sae.org) well before then. If you've been following news and social media reports from the show, or were on site yourself, perhaps you came away with a similar impression: auto shows are dead, long live the mobility show.

As the first production model on BMW's Neue Klasse platform, the 2026 BMW iX3 stole the show this year. It wasn't just that hometown BMW got to hold the first major OEM press conference on the schedule. It wasn't just the billboards plastered throughout town. For me, proof that what BMW announced is worth paying attention to is how many suppliers and partners that worked with BMW on this massive project were excited to hitch their oxen to the Neue Klasse wagon.