The next generation of BMW’s defining product, the 3 Series, is right around the corner. Like the most recent update to the 5 Series, it’s going to be coming in a good old-fashioned internal combustion form… and also in a fully electric variant that will likely be called i3, not to be confused with the old i3 city car. And it’s not just the standard 3 Series that’s trading pistons for batteries, either: BMW will be releasing an all-electric M3 (alongside a traditional inline-6 variant), the first time the full-on M treatment has been applied to an EV.
While details remain scarce for the moment, a prototype of the electric M3 has been sighted in its natural habitat, the Nürburgring. Caught by Car Spy Media, the new Bimmer scythes through the most famous corners in Germany without any engine roar at all, decked out in supposedly camera-confusing livery (though the camera that took the video would disagree). There’s no information on the car’s speed or times, but it certainly looks like it’s absolutely pinning it, keeping the M3’s reputation of staying planted even under strain, though the tires certainly shriek in agony and ecstasy doing so. As with other electric performance cars before it, while it may not growl, it sure seems like it can pounce.
What is the EV M3 going to be?
While they will both be branded with a “3,” the EV and ICE variants of the new 3 Series are expected to actually use different platforms, with the gas-powered cars sticking with the current CLAR architecture and the EV using the upcoming Neue Klasse platform. But all new 3 Series, including the EV M3, will take their design cues from the Vision Neue Klasse concept car unveiled in 2023. You can see the resemblance in the video, with the more angular lines, airier greenhouse, and a “cool sunglasses” look for the headlights and front grille that’s a notable departure from the giant beaver teeth grill that the i4 has.
In terms of what moves the wheels, the M division has been messing around with a quad-motor EV system for years, and the company’s first M-badged EV would be a likely place to see that put into mass production. That would really be four-wheel drive, as in, there’s literally a motor driving each individual wheel. No word yet on how much horsepower that would make for, but “many” would be a fair guess. BMW says it will have an 800-volt architecture and more energy density than its previous EV offerings.