BMW's new 3 Series goes electric with a hefty price tag

BMW opens US orders for its redesigned 3 Series sedan, offering a fully electric i3 50 xDrive for the first time alongside gasoline variants.

Sep 30, 2026

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BMW's new 3 Series goes electric with a hefty price tag

BMW opens US orders for its redesigned 3 Series sedan, offering a fully electric i3 50 xDrive for the first time alongside gasoline variants.

In brief

BMW opens US orders for its redesigned 3 Series sedan, offering a fully electric i3 50 xDrive for the first time alongside gasoline variants. BMW opened US order books for its new 3 Series sedan built on the Neue Klasse platform, offering a fully electric i3 50 xDrive starting at sixty one thousand five hundred…

BMW opens 3 Series order books

A red and a blue BMW 3 series drive along a road

BMW has opened US order books for its new 3 Series sedan built on the all-new Neue Klasse platform. For the first time, it offers a fully electric version alongside gasoline-powered variants.

The electric i3 50 xDrive specs

BMW i3 50 badging

The 2027 BMW i3 50 xDrive is all-wheel drive with 463 hp and 467 lb-ft of torque. BMW expects it to deliver 446 to 468 miles of range on a single charge when it arrives in Q1 next year.

Electric i3 pricing and competition

BMW i3 interior

The 2027 i3 50 xDrive starts at sixty one thousand five hundred dollars. For context, the 2026 i4 xDrive40, which is less powerful and has 60 percent of the range, currently starts at sixty two thousand three hundred dollars.

Gasoline 330 models arrive first

The 2027 330 rear-drive model starts at forty nine thousand nine hundred dollars, a nineteen hundred dollar premium over the outgoing 2026 model. An all-wheel drive 330 xDrive version costs fifty one thousand nine hundred dollars.

M350 xDrive brings six-cylinder power

BMW M350 engine

The 2027 M350 xDrive is the first inline six-cylinder model built at the Dingolfing plant in Germany. It uses a 3.0 L engine generating 437 hp and 428 lb-ft, with a drift moment function for rear-wheel driving dynamics.

M350 carries the largest premium

BMW M350 rear

The 2027 M350 xDrive carries the largest premium of the launch models at sixty five thousand nine hundred dollars. BMW says the first cars will arrive in Q1 2027.

The headline

BMW opened US order books for its new 3 Series sedan built on the Neue Klasse platform, offering a fully electric i3 50 xDrive starting at sixty one thousand five hundred dollars alongside gasoline models.

Read the original on Ars Technica

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