BMW Launches a Gas 3 Series and a 468-Mile i3

BMW priced the 2027 3 Series from $49,900 and claimed up to 468 miles for the electric i3. The eighth-generation sedan, revealed on September 29, 2026, goes on sale in the United States in the first quarter of 2027 as both a gasoline car and a fully electric one.

That split is the wager. Munich is keeping a turbo four and a turbo six on the lot while it replaces the i4 with a Neue Klasse EV, and it is leaving a full M3 off the price list.

Two Powertrains Under One 3 Series Badge

BMW’s U.S. press kit lists four launch cars: the 330, the 330 xDrive, the M350 xDrive, and the i3 50 xDrive. All four share the Neue Klasse face, the 17.9-inch central display, and BMW Operating System X. The electric car rides a 114.1-inch wheelbase; the gas cars sit on 112.6 inches. Length is almost the same, 187.4 inches for the i3 and 187.6 for the gasoline models.

The company calls this a “technology-open approach,” which in practice means one badge and two platforms. The i3 is a Neue Klasse EV with 800-volt hardware and cylindrical cells. The 330 and M350 use 48-volt mild-hybrid gasoline engines and an eight-speed automatic. Dr Mike Reichelt, head of Neue Klasse, said the 3 Series is where those tools reach the core of the brand.

The Neue Klasse is about far more than a single car. With the BMW iX3 we demonstrated for the first time how our new design language could blend the sixth generation of BMW eDrive technology, BMW Panoramic iDrive, and the Heart of Joy into a unique overall experience. 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.

Dr Mike Reichelt, Head of Neue Klasse, BMW Compact and Midsize Class

The new face is already splitting people the way BMW’s oversized kidneys did a generation ago. Vertical four-eyed lights, a closed kidney, and a sharknose read as a concept car that escaped, and some of that heat is fair. The sharper gap sits in the numbers. BMW is not selling the i3 on a 4.5-second sprint. It is selling range, a 400 kW plug, and a gas six that still exists.

Launch Prices Sit Close to Last Year’s Cars

Base MSRPs from BMW’s U.S. announcement, all of them plus a $1,350 destination fee, land close to the cars they replace. The volume 330 is $49,900. All-wheel drive adds $2,000. The electric i3 50 xDrive is $61,500, which undercuts the gasoline six by $4,400. The M350 xDrive, the M Performance flagship, opens at $65,900.

2027 BMW 3 SERIES U.S. LAUNCH LINEUP

The $11,600 jump from the 330 to the i3 is the real product decision. BMW did not bring a cheaper single-motor i3 to the United States at launch. Europe lists an i3 40 xDrive with an 82.8 kWh pack; America gets the dual-motor 50 as the electric 3 Series, full stop. Gasoline buyers who want six cylinders pay more than EV buyers who want the long-range car.

Why the i4 Lost Its Place

Bernd Körber, BMW’s product chief, has already said the quiet part. “In the first step, effectively, the i3 is more or less a successor to the i4,” he told reporters after the sedan’s earlier debut, adding that the rest of the electric portfolio would unfold later. The i4 Gran Coupe, the stopgap electric four-door BMW has sold since the 2022 model year, is being wound down as a 2026 car.

That handoff is the cost of the bet. The i4 was a 4 Series Gran Coupe with a battery, useful and finite. The i3 is a 3 Series designed as an EV, with the low, tapered roof the liftback used to own, plus Gen6 motors and an 800-volt pack. Once that car exists, a previous-generation five-door on older hardware is a leftover. The i4 name may yet return on two-door cars; the four-door job now belongs to the i3.

Plant Munich is already living that choice. BMW Group says series production at Plant Munich of the i3 began in August 2026, with orders open since mid-June and a steep ramp. From 2027 the historic factory, which has built cars since 1923 and the first 3 Series in 1975, is slated to build only fully electric vehicles. The gasoline 3 Series will have to come from the rest of the network.

51 Extra Horsepower and a Rear-Drive Drift Mode

The M350 xDrive is the holding pattern. It replaces the M340i as the gasoline flagship and as BMW’s stated entry point to M, with a 3.0-liter inline-six, a crankshaft-mounted starter generator good for 17 hp, and xDrive. Output is 437 hp and 428 lb-ft, up 51 hp from the 386 hp BMW quotes for the car it replaces. The claimed 0-60 time is 3.9 seconds, two-tenths quicker than the 4.1 seconds BMW quoted for the M340i xDrive. Top speed is limited to 155 mph on sport tires.

WHAT THE M350 ADDS ON PAPER

• The engine: A 3.0-liter mild-hybrid six rated at 437 hp, paired with an eight-speed Steptronic Sport gearbox.
• The sprint: BMW quotes 3.9 seconds to 60 mph, 0.6 seconds quicker than the i3 and 0.2 quicker than its own M340i xDrive claim.
• Drift Moment: A 2027 software function that sends power to the rear wheels only, delivered later by update on cars already sold.
• The costume: Quad exhaust tips, a standard rear spoiler, and optional M Yellow Lights borrowed from the M Hybrid V8 racer.

That is a lot of M jewelry for a car that still sits 0.5 seconds behind the current M3 Competition xDrive, which BMW rates at 523 hp and 3.4 seconds to 60. Drift Moment is a software treat, not a new engine. The six is stronger, the body is new, and the stopwatch barely moved on BMW’s own clock. Buyers who wanted an M3 this year still have to buy an M3.

How Far Will the 2027 BMW i3 Go?

BMW’s U.S. figures give the i3 50 xDrive an estimated 446 to 468 miles, from preliminary testing that follows EPA procedures, with 400 kW DC charging that can add 191 to 208 miles in 10 minutes. Combined output is 463 hp and 476 lb-ft, and the sedan reaches 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Those are the numbers BMW is hanging the electric 3 Series on.

I3 50 XDRIVE, AS BMW QUOTES IT

• Range: An estimated 446 to up to 468 miles of estimated range, the headline EPA-method figure.
• Charge: Up to 400 kW on an 800-volt DC station, adding 191 to 208 miles in 10 minutes; AC at up to 15.4 kW.
• Motors: A 322 hp electrically excited synchronous motor at the rear, a 165 hp asynchronous motor at the front, 463 hp combined.
• Pack: Cylindrical cells 46 mm by 95 mm, cell-to-pack construction, 20 percent higher volumetric density than Gen5; UK specs list 108.7 kWh.

Gen6 eDrive is rated about 30 percent more range and 30 percent faster charging than the Gen5 hardware in older BMW EVs. The i3 can also feed power back out, as a home backup or a mobile power bank, through Vehicle-to-Load and Vehicle-to-Home adapters. Heart of Joy, one of four onboard computers, runs drive, brakes, steering, and recuperation at ten times the rate of the last control set. That is the driving brief for a sedan that is slower to 60 than the gas six parked next to it.

The i3 M60 xDrive, an M Performance EV with two motors rather than four, is scheduled to join in 2027. BMW has not published U.S. power, range, or price for that car. Until it does, the 50 xDrive is the electric 3 Series, and 4.5 seconds is the time.

Four Motors Come Before Any Plug-In M3

The unannounced M3 is not a mystery in the way the old speculation required. BMW M has already said electric high-performance cars arrive from 2027, built around M eDrive with four electric motors, one per wheel, a pack with over 100 kWh of usable energy, and 800-volt charging. The front axle can disconnect so the car runs as a rear-driver on a long highway slog. Franciscus van Meel, managing director of BMW M GmbH, put the claim on the record in January.

With the latest generation of Neue Klasse technology, we are taking the BMW M driving experience to a new level and will inspire our customers with outstanding, racetrack-ready driving dynamics for everyday use.

Franciscus van Meel, Managing Director, BMW M GmbH, January 14, 2026

He has also ruled out the path the current M5 took. The next combustion M3, he said, “won’t be hybrid, as we’re sticking with the perfect combustion principle,” meaning a revised S58 inline-six with mild 48-volt assist rather than a heavy plug-in pack. That is two M3s in sequence, not one in-between car. The electric one is scheduled first. The gas one stays a six.

THE PATH BMW HAS ACTUALLY DATED

1. January 14, 2026: BMW M details electric M eDrive, four motors, and a pack over 100 kWh, with electric M cars from 2027.
2. August 2026: i3 series production starts in Munich after orders opened in mid-June.
3. September 29, 2026: BMW posts U.S. 3 Series prices and specs for the 330, 330 xDrive, M350 xDrive, and i3 50 xDrive.
4. First quarter of 2027: U.S. launch of those four cars; the i3 M60 xDrive and the first electric M models are dated only as 2027.

A 600 hp plug-in M3, the easy guess after the M5, is the car BMW just declined to build. The volume 3 Series already offers gas and electric. M is copying that split at the top, not blending it.

Munich Is Already Building the Electric One

More than 18 million 3 Series have been sold since 1975, BMW says, and the new generation is the eighth. U.S. dealers will not see the 330, the M350, or the i3 50 xDrive until the first quarter of 2027. European i3 deliveries were already slated for autumn 2026. The factory work is not theoretical. Peter Weber, head of Plant Munich, said starting i3 production cut manufacturing costs at the site by a further 10 percent. Jochen Goller, the board member for sales, said demand since the early order opening has been strong enough to steepen the ramp.

Hands-free SAE Level 2 highway driving is offered at up to 85 mph. Drift Moment lands later in 2027 as code. The M60 and the four-motor M3 still have no U.S. MSRP. The cars you can actually order, in American money, are a $49,900 four, a $65,900 six, and a $61,500 EV that BMW says will go 468 miles. That is the 3 Series BMW just chose to sell.