BMW don show the new eighth-generation 3 Series, and the car face don change. Gone are the skinny kidney grilles wey dey front of the 3-series. Instead, the 3-series adopts the same Neue Klasse styling as the iX3 electric crossover, which houses the kidneys and headlights in the same space.
The new generation has grown by every metric. E longer, wider, and taller, with both the wheelbase and track widths increasing. At launch, the 3-series go dey offered in three trim levels. There will be a rear-drive 330, an all-wheel-drive 330 xDrive, and a more potent AWD M350 xDrive.
The new generation comes with either a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder or a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six. If neither engine suits your fancy, BMW also dey offer a fully electric model in the form of the i3.
For years, automotive analysts don dey predict say electric vehicles go become cheaper than their gas-powered equivalents. Dem figure say e go happen sometime for latter half of the 2020s. BloombergNEF, for example, expected am to happen in 2026. EV prices don drop significantly in the last few years, but e don hard to compare prices with fossil fuel vehicles because not every EV get like-for-like gas-powered model. BMW don give us one.
The 2027 BMW 3 Series comes in both gas and electric versions, and the EV is $4,400 cheaper. The gas-powered M350 xDrive go set you back $65,900, while the electric i3 50 xDrive go cost $61,500; neither price includes destination charges. Both are similarly powerful, similarly styled, and aimed at similar pocketbooks. The difference be say the EV is 6.7% cheaper. Pedants go point out say there’s a significantly cheaper gas-powered 3 Series trim, though e no get electric equivalent yet. The 2027 BMW 330 is priced at $49,900, and its upgraded xDrive trim costs $51,900.
The two comparable vehicles are built on different platforms, with the EV i3 benefiting from BMW’s newest chassis and technology. The gas-powered 3 Series makes do with an overhauled version of an existing platform. For most people, the biggest difference go be the charging or refueling experience, but even there dem more similar than some might expect. The electric i3 go travel 468 miles on a full charge, and BMW tok say the vehicle fast charging is speedy enough to replenish 208 miles of range in 10 minutes.
BMW Group tok say dem dey spend around €2bn (US$2.34bn) on three Bavarian sites to build the eighth-generation 3 Series, divided roughly equally between its Munich and Dingolfing vehicle plants and a new battery factory at Irlbach-Straßkirchen. Munich go assemble the all-electric i3 with locally made batteries, while Dingolfing dey handle combustion and plug-in hybrid variants. That split keeps a single nameplate spanning both drivetrains, with Munich modernised as an electric-only site for Neue Klasse technology. From October, Irlbach-Straßkirchen go ship battery systems to Munich, the model’s home since 1975.
In a statement, Raymond Wittmann, BMW Group Board Member for Production, tok say dem dey invest in value creation, competitive production and job security in Germany. The new BMW 3 Series na the proof. Dem dey control the transformation—from development to industrialisation and high-efficiency production in Munich and Dingolfing. The new high-voltage battery plant in Irlbach-Straßkirchen show how dem dey bring key electromobility technology back to home base. Dem dey make their contribution. Conditions wey enable investment, innovation and competitiveness important if industrial value creation go continue to succeed for Germany.
The automaker tok say 15 million of about 18 million 3 Series cars were built in Germany, where e dey make over one million vehicles a year. More than 30% of some 760 supplier sites feeding both plants are domestic.
