THE BMW iX3 - the first fully-electric SUV from the Bavarian car maker - will be priced from £58,850 when it arrives in the UK in the next few weeks.

Two trim levels will be offered with higher grade Premier Edition Pro costing from £61,850.

The cheaper Premier Edition model comes with wireless phone charging, heated front seats and the brand's latest driver assistance technology which includes BMW's Driving Assistant Professional system, parking assistant and BMW Live Cockpit Professional.

Pro specification adds a head up display, a Harman Kardon surround sound set up, gesture control, parking assistant plus, automatic high beam assistant, comfort access and lumbar support.

The Pro model also comes with BMW IconicSounds Electric, developed in collaboration with German film score composter and record producer Hans Zimmer, which changes the interior sound in the car depending on driving circumstances.

The iX3 has a fully charged range of up to 279 miles and its drive system develops 286hp resulting in a 0 to 62mph acceleration time of 6.8 seconds.

Top speed is limited to 112mph and the car is driven by the rear wheels.

An 80 per cent recharge can be carried out in 34 minutes and an extra 62 miles of range can be added in just 10 minutes.

BMW says the power density of the electric motor in the iX3 is 30 per cent greater than that of existing fully-electric vehicles within the BMW Group portfolio and the motor is up to 93 per cent efficient, compared with under 40 per cent for combustion engines.

Boot capacity ranges from 510 litres to a maximum of 1,560 litres which is on par with conventionally powered SUVs.

The BMW iX3 is equipped with the latest generation BMW Operating System 7, which allows for every line of software code in the car to be updated over the air. The standard-fit BMW Live Cockpit Professional offers a fully-digital screen grouping comprising a high-resolution 12.3 inch instrument cluster behind the steering wheel and a 10.25-inch central control display.

The enhanced intuitive multimodal interaction allows the driver to take their pick of control interface for the situation at hand: Control Display touchscreen, iDrive Controller, multifunction buttons on the steering wheel, voice control or BMW gesture control.

BMW Live Cockpit Professional comes with optimised smartphone integration in addition to Apple CarPlay.

The iX3 is also compatible with Android Auto which allows access to a range of digital services such as Google Assistant, Google Maps as well as music streaming services like Spotify and Amazon Music, and the WhatsApp messaging system.