BMW’s New 3 Series Is Here — the Electric i3 Does 912 km, and the M350 Costs €80,900

MUNICH, GERMANY, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2026 — The most important BMW of them all just got its next chapter — and its biggest price spread ever. The eighth-generation 3 Series (G50) broke cover this week in a digital world premiere, headlined by an all-electric i3 sedan with up to 912 km of WLTP range and a six-cylinder M350 flagship that costs €80,900 in Germany. For the first time, the badge comes in two fundamentally different flavors: a combustion car that keeps the six-cylinder faith, and an electric car built on BMW's Neue Klasse EV architecture.

BMW announced the reveal date in advance on its social channels and pulled the cover off at 12:01 a.m. CEST on September 30 — the evening of September 29 in the Americas — with coverage across Autoblog, Bimmerfile, MotoringResearch, CARmag and the rest of the automotive press. It was a streamed premiere, not a motor-show stand: BMW is German and both cars are built in Germany, but there was no physical venue. Orders opened the same day, with first deliveries due early 2027.

The big idea, as BMW's head of Neue Klasse Dr. Mike Reichelt said: "Scalable and global, the Neue Klasse innovations are now being rolled out across our entire model range. And with the new BMW 3 Series, we are bringing them to the core of the brand for the first time."

The electric one: i3 does 912 km

The headline act is the i3 50 xDrive, the second Neue Klasse model after the iX3 and the first electric 3 Series ever. The numbers are serious: dual motors producing 345 kW (469 hp) and 645 Nm of torque, a 108.7 kWh (net) battery, and up to 912 km of WLTP range — roughly 567 miles. It hits 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds, charges at up to 400 kW DC (10–80% in 21 minutes) and takes 22 kW AC charging. A step-down i3 40 xDrive offers 275 kW (374 hp), an 82.8 kWh battery and up to 710 km of WLTP range. An i3 M60 xDrive performance version is announced for 2027, though BMW hasn't released its figures yet.

The i3 isn't vaporware: BMW opened German orders months ahead of plan in June 2026 after Automobilwoche reported strong early demand, and series production began in August 2026 at BMW's Munich plant — which goes all-electric in 2027. The combustion G50, meanwhile, is built on a heavily evolved CLAR platform and moves production to Dingolfing starting in November 2026. Same Neue Klasse design language and the same Panoramic iDrive cabin; two different cars underneath.

The petrol one: six cylinders, no diesel

For the faithful, the combustion car is the real story. The M350 xDrive — successor to the M340i — pairs BMW's 3.0-liter B58 inline-six with 48V mild-hybrid assistance for 443 hp (437 hp in US SAE trim) and 580 Nm, good for 0–100 km/h in 4.1 seconds and a limited 250 km/h top speed. BMW development chief Joachim Post reportedly called it the best 3 Series of all time at the reveal — the standard launch hyperbole, as Bimmerfile dryly noted, "and it's for the road to decide." A "Drift Moment" rear-drive mode arrives via over-the-air update in 2027.

Below it, the 318 and 320 use a 2.0-liter turbo four with 48V mild hybrid (around 154–156 hp and 211 hp respectively), while the US-market 330 makes 255 hp. A plug-in hybrid joins the range in 2027. And in a genuine end-of-an-era moment: no diesel, for the first time in 3 Series history.

The price: €49,900 to €80,900

Here's where the "over €75,000" claim lands. Per BMW's September 2026 German media information, the range opens at €49,900 for the 318 and €54,900 for the 320. The electric i3 starts at €59,900 for the 40 xDrive and €65,900 for the 50 xDrive — but the launch i3 50 xDrive First Edition was priced at €75,340, per Automobilwoche via Electrek. The M350 xDrive flagship starts at €80,900, and a fully optioned German 3 Series can reach €101,655 on the configurator.

Elsewhere: the US range runs from $49,900 (330) to $65,900 (M350), the UK from £44,975 (320) to £66,785 (M350) with the i3 from £47,925, and Australia gets a price cut on the combustion car while the i3 lands above the outgoing i4. UK deliveries start in January 2027, with the US and Australia following in the first quarter.

Tesla, Mercedes and Audi in the crosshairs

BMW didn't pick these numbers by accident. The i3's 912 km WLTP figure is aimed squarely over the Tesla Model 3 — whose longest-range version manages about 410 miles WLTP in the UK with 250 kW charging — and the new all-electric Mercedes C-Class, rated at 473 miles (760 km) WLTP with 330 kW charging. As Auto Express wrote, the i3 offers "nearly 150 extra miles from a single charge, and 150kW higher charging speeds" than the Model 3 Long Range Dual Motor. Audi, meanwhile, has no answer yet: the A4 e-tron isn't due until late 2027 at the earliest, possibly slipping to 2028.

For the combustion car, Tech Times names the price-point rivals as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi A5 and Tesla Model 3 Performance — and notes the European premium-sedan segment contracted roughly 19 percent in sales through 2025. BMW is defending a shrinking fortress, and it's doing it with the broadest powertrain spread the 3 Series has ever offered.

The cabin: a screen wall and an Android brain

Inside, both cars get BMW Panoramic iDrive: a dash-wide Panoramic Vision display plus a 17.9-inch central touchscreen, running BMW OS X — which is Android-based — with Alexa+ voice AI, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and SAE Level 2 driver assistance including hands-free Motorway Assist up to 130 km/h.

Why this one matters

Context: more than 18 million 3 Series have been sold worldwide since the original E21 launched in 1975 — Autoblog said it is "the world's best-selling premium sport sedan." Every generation has defined what a sports sedan is supposed to feel like. This one has a harder job: it must prove the formula survives electrification, fend off Tesla's charging network and Mercedes' new C-Class Electric, and carry BMW's Neue Klasse technology into the heart of the brand — all while the segment around it shrinks.

If the 912 km figure holds up in the real world and the six-cylinder M350 drives like BMWs are supposed to, the G50 could be the rare generational change that gives both camps what they want. The road, as ever, will decide.

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