Production of the G20 BMW 3 Series ends in October 2026, closing an eight-year run that started at the Paris Motor Show on October 2, 2018. Its successor, the G50, debuts September 30 and enters production at Dingolfing in November. On paper, that’s a clean handoff. In practice, it’s an extinction event for a certain kind of BMW.
The G50 borrows its face and cabin from the electric i3 built on the Neue Klasse architecture. Slim geometric kidneys sit in a horizontal glass band that bleeds into the headlights, with flush door handles and thin horizontal taillights. BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk has said buyers will struggle to tell the gasoline 3 Series from the electric i3. That’s the point, and that’s the problem.
Park a G20 next to an E46 or an F30 and they’re clearly family. Twin-element headlights tracing back to the quad round lamps of the E30, L-shaped taillights BMW has used on sedans for decades, and the Hofmeister kink at the C-pillar. The kidneys grew from the F30 but stayed two horizontal openings scaled to the front end. None of it was radical, and all of it worked.
The G20 was also the last regular 3 Series sold with a manual gearbox. The six-speed survived only in Europe, on the 318d and rear-drive 320d, until mild-hybrid requirements and the 2022 LCI killed it off entirely. The G50 will offer no manual anywhere in its lineup, a first since the nameplate launched in 1975.
Then there’s the M340i. Its B58 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six made 382 hp and 369 lb-ft in U.S. trim, numbers that beat several earlier M3s on paper. The G50’s M350 successor bumps output to 437 hp but is expected to launch with xDrive only. Rear-drive dies with the G20.
European buyers face a different loss. The M340d Touring, with its six-cylinder diesel making 335 hp and 516 lb-ft through xDrive in a proper wagon, delivered V8 torque with diesel range. BMW hasn’t confirmed any diesel for the G50 lineup, and no spy photos have shown one. With Euro 7 looming and diesel demand shrinking, the M340d Touring may turn out to be the last great diesel BMW sold new.
Inside, the pre-LCI G20 ran iDrive 7 on a 10.25-inch center display with a full physical climate panel underneath, a volume knob, real buttons for hazards and defrosters, and the rotary iDrive controller on the center console. It remains the best way to operate an infotainment system while driving because you can do it by feel. The G50 goes further still, with a Panoramic iDrive display spanning the full width of the windshield base and fewer physical controls than ever.
The G20 family was unusually broad. A Touring, a long-wheelbase sedan for China, a 330e plug-in hybrid, and the G81 M3 Touring, the first M3 wagon BMW ever built. It served fleet buyers, commuters, families, and enthusiasts without looking like it was trying to be all things.
The G50 will beat the G20 on every measurable spec. More power, better efficiency, bigger screens. What it surrenders is the thread connecting the 3 Series to every 3 Series before it. Well-kept late M340is, especially rear-drive cars, and M340d Tourings are going to hold value better than the market currently prices in. BMW builds the last ones next month.
Share this Story