The BMW i3 name is back, and it has nothing in common with the quirky carbon-fiber city car that wore it from 2013 to 2022. This time it’s a full-size electric sedan, the second vehicle built on BMW’s Neue Klasse architecture. Pre-orders are now open in Europe ahead of a fall launch.
BMW moved up the sales timeline, citing strong customer interest. The first version available is the i3 50 xDrive First Edition, priced at €75,340 in Germany. A base i3 50 xDrive follows at €65,900, a figure that undercuts BMW’s own iX3 50 xDrive crossover by €8,800.
The First Edition comes loaded with the M Sport Package, illuminated kidney grille, six body colors including the new M Le Castellet Blue, and a choice of 19- or 20-inch wheels. Inside, there’s black Veganza and M PerformTex upholstery, a 3D head-up display, Harman Kardon audio, heated and electrically adjustable front seats, three-zone climate control, and a heated steering wheel. BMW clearly wants early adopters to feel rewarded.
Even so, the options list is extensive. Heated rear seats, panoramic sunroof, a trailer hitch with an electrically swiveling ball head, BMW’s new M steering wheel, and a bold white steering wheel option paired exclusively with Digital White upholstery. Tech packages include Parking Assistant Plus, Parking Assistant Professional, and Highway & City Assistant.
Range numbers are impressive on paper. The First Edition manages 906 kilometers on the WLTP cycle, while the slightly lighter base model stretches to 912 km. The difference is marginal and comes down to heavier equipment and potentially less aerodynamic wheel choices on the launch edition.
Production begins in August at BMW’s Munich plant. That factory assignment matters. Munich is BMW’s spiritual home, and putting the i3 sedan there signals where the company sees its electric future anchored.
The real chess move here is the pricing strategy. At €65,900, the i3 sedan slots below the iX3 crossover despite sharing the same powertrain and platform. BMW is betting that sedan buyers still exist in Europe and that price can pull them in.
The iX3 40, already available with rear-wheel drive at €67,200, hints at what’s coming for the sedan lineup. A rear-drive i3 40 could feasibly crack below €60,000, which would place a Neue Klasse BMW in genuinely competitive territory against the Tesla Model 3 and upcoming Chinese rivals.
BMW is also teasing a long-wheelbase i3 for China and has confirmed an i3 Touring wagon variant will be built in Munich. The sedan is not a standalone product. It’s the foundation for an entire family.
Three years ago, BMW was taking heat for being slow on electrification. The iX felt like an experiment. The i4 was an electrified 4 Series Gran Coupe with compromises baked into its converted architecture.
The Neue Klasse generation is BMW’s answer to all of that criticism, built electric from the ground up with range figures that would have seemed fictional two years ago. Whether 900-plus kilometers of WLTP range translates to real-world confidence is another question entirely.
But the packaging is right, the pricing is aggressive relative to BMW’s own lineup, and the factory is already warming up. BMW isn’t asking permission anymore. It’s setting terms.
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