A camouflaged 3 Series prototype just lapped the Nürburgring wearing quad exhaust tips and a turbocharged inline-six growl that no electric motor can fake. The car is the M350, BMW’s next M Performance sedan, and it’s nearly ready for production.
The G50 generation 3 Series is scheduled to debut later this year, and this spy footage confirms the B58 straight-six lives on with reportedly north of 400 horsepower. That’s a meaningful bump over the current M340i, which tops out at 382 hp in its latest form. BMW isn’t just keeping the engine. It’s turning it up.
But the inline-six may come with strings attached. Reports indicate BMW could drop the rear-wheel-drive option entirely, selling the M350 exclusively with xDrive all-wheel drive. That would be a gut punch to purists who’ve long considered the rear-drive 3 Series a foundational sports sedan.
Simplifying the lineup saves BMW money. It also chips away at the car’s identity.
The M340d appears destined for the chopping block as well. Diesel M Performance sedans were always a European niche, and BMW seems content to let that niche close.
Beyond the drivetrain, one visible change on the prototype raised eyebrows. The next 3 Series appears to carry a panoramic glass roof that doesn’t open, likely the same Skyroof panel already fitted to the electric i3. Fixed glass is lighter, cheaper to engineer, and better sealed.
It’s also one more small pleasure stripped from the driving experience in the name of efficiency. Whether BMW will still offer a conventional tilt-and-slide sunroof remains an open question, but the industry trend here runs one direction.
Styling will borrow heavily from the i3 electric sedan, though the combustion car retains a longer hood to house its engine. Design language from the recently revealed M760e and i7 M70 should trickle down to the M350. Expect a cleaner, more sculpted look than the current G20, with less visual controversy than BMW’s recent kidney-grille experiments.
The M350 will be the sole 3 Series with visible exhaust tips at launch. A full M3 won’t arrive until 2028, meaning the M Performance variant carries the performance flag alone for roughly two years.
A wagon is also in the cards, though BMW is being cagey about it. The electric 3 Series Touring, codenamed NA1, is confirmed. The combustion-powered G51 Touring? BMW says it’s “open” to building it, which is corporate speak for “we’ll see how the numbers look.
Production of the G50 sedan will start at BMW’s Dingolfing plant late this year. That detail alone marks a historic shift: for the first time since the original 3 Series launched in 1975, Munich will no longer build the car that made BMW a household name. Dingolfing is a perfectly capable facility, but moving 3 Series production out of Munich feels like the end of something.
BMW’s 2026 product blitz has already delivered a new i3, a refreshed 7 Series, and a long-wheelbase iX3 for China. The next X5 is confirmed for a summer debut. The M350 slots into a calendar that’s aggressive even by BMW standards.
Over 400 horsepower, a proven six-cylinder, and possibly the last generation to offer internal combustion without electrification as the main course. The G50 M350 doesn’t just replace the M340i. It carries the weight of a 50-year lineage into what may be its final purely combustion chapter.
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