BMW launches electric version of iconic 3 Series

BMW has revealed the i3 – the first electric car in its popular 3 Series, offering the longest range of any EV on the European market.

The BMW i3 is the second car to be built on the German automaker's Neue Klasse electric vehicle platform, which will underlie all of its new launches in the coming years.

Neue Klasse focuses on resetting the brand's design language and bringing together several advanced technologies – BMW's Gen6 sixth-generation fully electric drive system, the Panoramic iDrive dashboard and a central computer that BMW calls the Heart of Joy.

To this, BMW brings the characteristics of its bestselling 3 Series line, known for its sporty sedans.

"The technologies of the Neue Klasse came together seamlessly to define a completely new form of absolute sheer driving pleasure," said BMW chairman of the board of management Oliver Zipse at the i3 design premiere.

"For me it's like climbing into a car that skipped a whole generation."

The i3 runs on a high-voltage round-cell battery, which delivers a range of up to 900 kilometres – the longest of any electric vehicle on the European market.

While the battery is the same as in the previously announced model of the Neue Klasse era, the iX3 SUV, the longer range is possible because the sedan is lighter and more aerodynamic.

The 400-kilowatt-hour charging capacity will allow it to get up to 400 kilometres of driving from the first 10 minutes of recharging, enabling road trips with fewer and shorter rest stops.

The design is more understated than some recent BMW models, while optimising for speed and dynamism. BMW Group head of design Adrian van Hooydonk described the i3 as a car that is "muscular and expresses movement even when it's standing still".

This is tied to its 2.5-box silhouette, blending the shapes of a sedan and hatchback, and to its shark-nose front end, which is slightly more aggressive than those seen on other recent 3 Series cars.

The iconic kidney grille was given a radical downsizing, with a slim horizontal shape framed by integrated lighting rather than chrome bars.

The design blurs the boundaries between the grille and the car's headlights – another element that has been slimmed down, this time into vertical slivers of LED.

For the side view, the designers aimed for a design that is compact and clean, with few sculpted elements outside of the wheel arches.

The i3's interior is intended to deliver spaciousness mixed with sportiness. It continues the new user interface of the Neue Klasse, the Panoramic iDrive, which combines a slim display that sits below the windscreen along its full width and a large 17.9-inch central touchscreen.

The display shows information typical of a car's instrument panel, while the touchscreen controls secondary functions like audio.

There are few physical buttons, despite recent criticism of the proliferation of touchscreens in modern vehicles from the likes of architect Norman Foster. The door handles are retractable, even though concerns have been raised that these flush-mounted styles can trap occupants in the vehicle in an emergency.

BMW intends to start production on the i3 at its plant in Munich in August 2026 and begin delivering vehicles soon after.

The i3 will be offered exclusively in the BMW 50 x Drive form – meaning all-wheel drive with mid-level horsepower – but the company has indicated other variants are planned.

BMW intends to switch to exclusively producing electric vehicles of the Neue Klasse line by the end of 2027 and has said this will include 40 new or updated models.

The new BMW i3 is not to be confused with the 2013 i3, the company's first electric car. A compact hatchback, it was retired in 2022 and did not form part of the 3 Series.

The new i3 is the first electric vehicle in the 3 Series besides a 2022 variant of the G20 made solely for the Chinese market.

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