BMW parked an i3 M60 xDrive in France this autumn wearing Frozen Ocean Wave Blue matte paint, 21-inch black wheels and red calipers. It brought nearly everything to the reveal except a horsepower figure.
That omission tells you plenty about where this car sits. The i3 M60 replaces the i4 M60 and joins the lineup next year. It is the opening act for a headliner BMW has been teasing far more loudly.
The positioning is already locked. The M60 slots above the i3 50 xDrive and below the first fully electric M3. It is the M car for people who want the badge and the shove without signing up for the full treatment.
BMW calls this tier M Performance. Think of it as the electric counterpart to the M350, except it rides on a dedicated EV platform instead of the gas car’s CLAR bones.
The styling work is thorough, with a distinct rear-light graphic, M mirror caps and a deeper rear diffuser. Customers who want more can raid the M Performance Parts catalog. That means a carbon-fiber front splitter, rear spoiler, side winglets and an even more aggressive diffuser.
The yellow M lights behave differently depending on which side of the Atlantic you buy. On European cars they glow only with the low beams on. On US cars they double as daytime running lights and stay lit in broad daylight.
Inside, the M Sport seats offer 10-way electric adjustment and massage. The steering wheel carries dedicated Boost and M Mode buttons plus a red 12 o’clock marker. Those are the usual cues for a car meant to be driven hard.
How hard is easy to guess, even if BMW won’t confirm it. The recently revealed iX3 M60 runs two sixth-generation electric motors making a combined 603 horsepower and 645 lb-ft of torque. That SUV reaches 62 mph in 3.9 seconds.
BMW has not said the sedan shares that hardware. Lay the two cars side by side, though, and the family resemblance is hard to miss. A lower, lighter sedan carrying the same output would have every physical reason to beat the SUV off the line.
Range is the other number BMW is keeping to itself. The i3 50 xDrive is rated at up to 912 km (567 miles) on the WLTP cycle. Bigger motors, larger wheels and a sharper setup typically drag that figure down, and the M60 has all three.
Pricing is also unannounced, but the floor is visible. An i3 50 xDrive M Sport Professional starts at $66,050 in the United States, and Germans pay €72,770 for the i3 50 xDrive with the M Sport Package Pro. Expect the M60 to sit comfortably above both.
Production is expected to begin in early 2027. That same year brings the car BMW clearly considers the main event.
The electric M3, coded ZA0, gets four motors and a dedicated high-performance battery pack. Output could land at 800 horsepower or more. It will simulate gear shifts, pipe in artificial sound and swap the expected carbon fiber for natural-fiber composites.
So the i3 M60 enters life as the middle child. It has the paint, the parts catalog and, by all signs, the pace to embarrass most of what it meets. It will also spend its first year being measured against a sibling that hasn’t even arrived.
Then there is the Touring. The long-roof NA1 should break cover next year, and BMW plans an M Performance version of that too.
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